Article July 17, 1989 Issue

A vision for today

The Christian Science Monitor

When our dear friends lost their young son in the crash of Pan Am's Flight 103, suddenly all the prayers I had ever prayed didn't seem enough. I asked God to bring me new prayer that could reach the place where the telegrams, the flowers, the condolences, had not. Is there anything real to fill the void that death leaves? Not something philosophical but something here and now that does not simply attempt to bury grief in time? A vision beyond words perhaps?

At the threshold of Elijah's passing from earth, Elisha, his pupil, asked that he inherit a double portion of his master's spirit. Elijah answered that this was a hard thing but then added, "If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so."^{II Kings 2:10.}

There is something audacious about Elisha. He follows Elijah to what must have seemed to be the very brink of existence, and even then he seeks more. He pushes beyond earth's limits. Rather than shut his eyes against his impending loss, he keeps them wide open, so that he might see—through inspired vision—what fear and personal grief would deny him. Perhaps it is Elisha's boldness that makes possible the fulfilling of his request. The account goes on to say that Elisha did see Elijah as he "went up by a whirlwind into heaven."^{II Kings 2:11.} From this moment on, his life exhibited mastery over suffering, loss, accidents, and even death.