Seeing Clearly

 

It began with a quiet afternoon. Then came a loud crash. Thinking a picture or mirror had fallen off the wall, I walked through the house to investigate. Upon arriving in the living room, it became clear the cause of the noise. One of the three large windows that front my house was broken and shattered. The safety glass was slowly spidering across the full window and glass was soon to start falling into the flowers below. It seems some neighborhood boys were playing and a rock hit my window. A small rock. What started as a little hole soon spread to take out the entire window. Fortunately, the inner pane of glass remained unbroken.

As I looked out at St. Francis, these words of the Apostle came to mind, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” As I looked out, all in my line of vision was distorted. The cracks changed the way the light entered the room. The trees had lost their shape. The houses had blurred into unidentifiable blobs. I could no longer see clearly.

But, if I repositioned myself to where I could look through the place where the shattered glass had begun to fall away, the contrast was astounding. My vision was then as clear as mountain air. With the dirty outer pane of glass missing, it was if nothing stood between myself and St. Francis. Everything was clear and sharp. I felt as if I could truly see.

Many things can crack our glass and limit our vision. Life can bring hard situations into our lives. We can make poor decisions. Others can make decisions that effect us in adverse ways. Selfishness and pride can cloud our ability to see the needs of those around us. Our insecurities and fears can prevent us from taking a clear look at ourselves. The limitations of our ability as humans to comprehend all the mysteries of God and life diminish our sight and our perceptions. As the Apostle writes, we live with limited vision.

But, there will come a day when the glass is clean and unbroken. We will see clearly; God, ourselves and each other. What a glorious thought - to have nothing standing between us, blurring our vision or distorting reality. So, I’ll have the window repaired and keep it clean so that, until then, I’ll see as clearly as I can.

Peace.