WHY DO WE WASH WINDOWS?

Probably the warmest day of the season so far today. That’s music to my soul. I kind of hibernate and move slower during the cold months. I’m sure I look and sound like an 85-year-old, crotchety man complaining about the winter. Just ask my kids.

Truth be told, I can look out the window and be truly appreciative of the beauty of snow and ice. Thank heaven for that thick window and insulation in the walls and blowing heat from a furnace on my side of the glass. Makes it much easier to see the wonder of it all when my bones don’t feel like they are going to snap in half from being frozen.

But those wonderful, protective windows that I spent appreciating the cold through, have suffered the majesty of the wind and rain and snow storms that we survived these past months. To take a deep breath and enjoy the view was getting harder and harder – my long vision of the world was being stopped right in front of my face and the spots and dirt on the windows took on more and more of the picture.

So today, in the warmth and bright sun, with some good music in my ears, I set about to wash all 24 windows in our house. As things usually go with me, I was soon also washing down the siding and making sure any evidence of birds was gone. While I had the ladder out, it seemed just one extra step to climb up and pull dead branches out of the gutters. That last storm had especially reminded us of just how puny we really are compared to the forces out there. 

After putting away the ladder and washing my hands, I climbed the stairs and walked over to the tall window from the second floor. The bright sun filled the room and I looked out the now, very clean window. Nothing impeded my vision and I could clearly see out, into the world.

It may rain tomorrow. I hope it doesn’t, but that is always a possibility. If so, the windows will only have been clean and clear for a day.

Would it have been worth it?

There is a lot to be said for a moment of clarity, no matter how brief it may be. The sweetness can be recalled when the window is dirty again, simply by closing our eyes and remembering. We can still know what is out there, even if for the moment we can’t see it clearly through the dirt, film, and smudges of life.

Recently at church we were discussing things that were real and wondering how we knew what was really real in this fast moving, technology driven world.

It was kind of tender for me as I’ve been struggling a bit lately with what is and what isn’t real. Dreams and imaginations are tangible; reality seems muted and cloudy. I have to use my anchors around me (http://choosetodanceintherain.blogspot.com/2014/04/hiding-monster-within-who-turns-on.html) to double check what is real is what isn’t sometimes. It feels like as I look out the window the smudges and dirt are all that I can see.

That is when I close my eyes, and I try to remember. The bright, warm sunlight. The never-ending sharp blue sky. The comfort of the fragrant blossoms in the trees. The warm greens splashed with cheerful tulips as things fight for life after a long, cold sleep.

These are real.

Why do we take the time to wash our windows? Really only two good reasons that I can think of:

To be able to see out,

and to let the light flood in.  

I think I need to wash my windows.

And I’m not talking about the 24 double-paned, vinyl glass wonders that are part of our brick and mortar.

Probably not going to be a quick afternoon project that I can cross off my list and move on to the next thing.

Probably going to take a bit more time.

Will it be worth it?

You see, it feels like it isn’t really the warmest day of the season so far and a good day to get out and clean.

It feels like the storm is brewing and blowing and the rain is cold.

Not nearly as fun to wash windows in the rain.

But probably a lot more important.

What is real in your life?

What do you see through the clean glass?

What do you see when you have to close your eyes to remember?

Probably unique for each of us, our own personal painting of the beauty of the struggle for life in the middle of the cold; yet woven into the fibers of the canvas and stirred into the colors of the oils would be the foundation of our reality:  

Truth.

Light.

Clarity.

Yes, I think it is worth it to try to clean even in the rain and storm. To wash our hands, climb the stairs, and stand at the window, looking out at the world and letting the light flood back in, helps us know for certain just what is real.

And we remember.