How Clear are Your Windows?

This morning I stood in the doorway of what was my daughter’s room.  Grown and moved away, the room didn’t go with her.  This is not important.

What is important are the windows.  While one is decades old, the other was replaced yesterday.  I studied them, one then the other.  Though it only took a moment, the lesson was life changing.

When Pam and I bought this house over fifteen years ago, these windows were there.  Looking back, the windows have always been bad, but we didn’t really care.  We had a home we loved.

Actually, our lives have been lived in houses with bad windows.  My parents got a great deal on windows that were problems from day one.  Her parents lived in a farmhouse, where farmers took care of tractors, barns and silos, not houses.

We accepted the windows, that is, until our roofer pointed out the frames on one side of the house were completely rotted away.  We accepted draftiness and evidence that not one single window was sealed properly.  We couldn’t accept gaping holes into our home. 

We agreed to replace the windows, but just the three on that side.  We had just replaced the roof and gutters.  We were now going over the “have-to” budget for those items.  Like most people, we have limits to our spending.

This weekend, after a new window was installed in one of the bedrooms, Pam mentioned that we really need to do the other in those rooms. “It doesn’t look right.”  I pursed my lips then smiled as the installer asked her for a date.  We agreed on two more windows.

As I looked this morning, two windows became a lesson.  While I could see out the old window, the fog of unsealed glass clouded what I saw.  I knew this fog was there years ago, yet it didn’t move me to change my view.  Only by removing the distortion was I forced to see more clearly in the new window.

Life is that way.  Sometimes we know we have things affecting our view, yet we think we see clearly (or clear enough).  All too often, we wait for life’s changes to try to see differently.

Today’s mission is for you to ask you, “How clear are the windows in my eyes? What is clouding my view?  Is there something I can change today to see more clearly?”

I don’t have that answer.  Even writing this left me with those questions.  Questions I know I should find comfort in seeking the answers anew tomorrow.  I also know myself as a recovering perfectionist.  I’m not at ease writing this.  I want to ask, “What did I miss?”  I need to change that window, asking instead, “What am I about to miss?”

I don’t know how to end this; you can take it from here.  Go look at your life’s windows.