“Looks like more rain is on the way,” I told my wife.

“Why do you say that?” she asked. “The forecast is calling for sunny skies all week.”

“I don’t care what the forecast said. Look outside. It’s the middle of the afternoon and it’s almost dark.”

“Baby,” she said (which is code for “I can’t believe I married you”), “it’s sunny outside. You really need to clean the windows.”

Mmmm... good coffee. Oh, and you missed a spot, honey.

Cleaning the windows is one of those things that always sounds like an easy job but turns into a week-long project. You’re not supposed to clean them on a sunny day, since it will make them dry faster than you can squeegee them. But if you do it on a cloudy day, you can’t really see where all the streaks are. It is, as my mother-in-law says, a Catch-21.

And to make matters even worse, you don’t realize how dirty your blinds are until you clean your windows. And if you make the mistake I did and clean your blinds after you clean your windows, guess what? You get to clean your windows again!

The last time I had to clean the windows I spent quite a bit of time researching on the internet for an easier way to do it. As it turned out, I spent more time surfing than I did cleaning. I did figure out that my laptop screen needed cleaning though. A bit of cleaning solution, some water, and a squeegee later, and voila! A new laptop on the way from Amazon!

But once I finished with the windows, it was amazing how much brighter everything looked. We knew that they were dirty, but had no idea how dirty until they were cleaned.

And that’s the way our lives become. We get used to seeing the world around us in a certain way, and as it gradually changes, we don’t even notice it. Even worse, we get used to seeing ourselves a certain way.

The order of things is to get dirty. I’m not aware of anything that gets cleaner without some action. Just like windows get dirty, so do our lives. And until our lives are cleaned, we don’t realize how dirty they’ve become.

Fortunately, as believers we have Someone who does the cleaning for us. Sunny day or cloudy day, it doesn’t matter. He is happy to take care of it anytime we ask. No streaks, no complaining. Just a spotless shine every time. All we have to do is ask.

Thank God.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.   1 Corinthians 13:12