WINDOWS

I washed windows the other day.
I knew the time would come when I could no longer linger outside.
All too soon it will be time to drink in the outside behind closed windows.
I figured it is better to wash them now, before it is too cold and wet and ugly to scrub the outsides.
I love how the newspaper squeaks across the glass when it has absorbed my simple solution of vinegar and water.

A dark wet day has enough light to bring into
the front of the house if the storm door is clean.

Bugs and dust and dirt spots are gone.
Streaks and blotches disappear.
The storm door takes a bit more work.
There are as many smudges on the inside as the outside.
But OH HOW IT GLISTENS!

The wonderful thing about summer is that I don't care about windows or seeing out between the blotches.
I'm outside!
Who cares if one can see nature clearly?
I'm outside!
I savor the summer months and try to linger on my porch as long as I can until my hands become numb-cold and my legs, covered by a blanket, begin to shiver a bit.

So, I spend more time inside than outside as the days grow shorter . . .  and darker.
All too soon I will need to see the outside through tempered glass.

I even move my little writing desk inside, near the most light I can find.
I move the dining table back a few feet and rearrange a new space that I carve out each winter.

If you look carefully, you can see my little computer by
the window.  From a distance you can't even see my desk.

With windows on two sides I see greens turn gold, blooms fade into stalks of tan and brown.
Red berries pop up from behind my determined red roses, still blooming strongly after the frost.

My own reflection invites me to move to one side to see the hosta thriving under the protection of our beautiful pine tree.
Candles are another interference but such a delight when they automatically turn on in the late afternoon.
Today the drizzle quietly trickles into newly turned dirt left from transplanting day lilies.

I give thanks that I have windows to keep out the cold.
I am thankful that I have such a grand view of my garden and natural beauty of the wetland area below us and acres of farms with no end in sight behind deciduous trees on the far side.

They are losing their leaves so I will soon see the old stone barn and the farmhouse with the wraparound porch.

I pull the curtain back from another window and drink in the changing garden on the side of the house.  Variegated leaves for now will soon fall and reveal bright red twigs-like branches.  When the snow falls, they will add new beauty to a white landscape.

Windows offer a view to another world in another season of life.
Windows invite me to linger longer and wonder about a new phase of my own life.
God has a window into my heart and knows exactly where I am in my walk.
Do I dare take a look inside?
The view is so murky from this side.
I need to take more time to clean the window into my heart.  There are too many blotches and streaks.

A lyric from scripture set to song comes to mind.
"Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me ..."
Perhaps the words could change a bit to: "Clean the window to my heart, oh God, so I can see the rightness of the Spirit you planted in me."

I wander and I wonder as I sit at my window, rain beginning to drench the warm earth . . . and leaving spots on my newly polished glass.

Like the heart, this convex glass
reveals a distorted view and reflected
light from a window that seems distant.

I guess nothing is perfect . . .
 imperfect view . . .
imperfect heart for God . . .
 always an ugly blotch here and there . . .
always a need to clean and polish and take away the streaks that smudge my life.

I am thankful that I have the desire to see, or begin to see, what God presents to me, whether it is on the other side of these pieces of thermal glass or whether it is deep inside my heart.
God's view is perfect but mine is distorted and the light of Christ within me seems distant, like the reflection from this convex mirror.
Words come to mind: murky, smudged, flawed.
Yet, God sees perfection.
Since I am beautifully and wonderfully made in God's image, I should see myself as perfectly clean without splotches.
I know I don't need water and vinegar solution or scrubbing with newspaper.
All I need to do is look out my beautifully clean windows and look at God's creativity. . . and remember how God sees me.

Windows . . .

a gift to help me through the 'inside' months.

I will keep my table and chairs outside until
the first hint of snow.  Then I will know I
cannot linger on my favorite porch for awhile.

I have this little wooden window that I use all year.  I place a pretty card behind it
that reflects the current season and voila . . . I have a window to another world.