Sometimes, when I look out my back window, I see the beautiful world and possibilities outside. I take in the beauty all around and I appreciate it.
Sometimes, when I look out my back window, all I see are the dirty fingerprints obscuring the view. I want to see past them, I want to find the beauty, but the fingerprints are all I can manage to make out.
Sometimes, when I look out my back window, I see a mesh of delightful fingerprints and trees and grass and beauty running together. I see the tiny hands behind the fingerprints pointing to the birds, or trying to pet the dog through window. I guess in these moments, I experience the outside like the little people that are experiencing it as they look through the window.
We are often told throughout the scriptures to become more childlike. I can think of a myriad of different ways to describe what that means, as I am sure all of you can as well. Tonight, I think it means that I need to be more like the last "sometimes" paragraph. It means that the fingerprints shouldn't obscure the view and that they don't need to be washed away in order to appreciate what God gives me, but that the fingerprints and the view are all part of the same horizon. The fingerprints, mixed with God's creations, create an experience that is uniquely mine.
At times, I find it hard to sustain that perspective, but for tonight, it seems perfectly clear (or muddied with beautiful fingerprints, whichever way you want to look at it). Hopefully I can hang on to it for a little while this time.
