The Spire

 Hello My Friends,

Last night, Jo and I drove home from a great visit with Ma and Pa Baker in Bainbridge. (Thanks for a great day, Ma and Pa, and Julie). It was a peaceful day with a wonderful meal and much ice cream. As we drew closer to home, I began thinking of the things I needed to get done upon arrival. The list in my mind grew. One of the items in my list was to hop in our other vehicle, the Corolla, and give it a drive before Jo used it in the morning. We have not driven it much lately and I wanted to be sure she was all set and that there were no issues.

We got out of the van and, in my haste, I immediately headed for the Corolla. I jumped in, actually more like crawled in, and started it up. I noticed that the windshield was quite dirty with dust and pollen, which made sense because it is stored outside, but that was no big deal. After turning it around in the driveway I hit the road headed west and pulled the windshield washer lever. Washer fluid sprayed onto the windshield, the wipers smeared it and I COULD NOT SEE A THING! Heading into the sun blasted a blinding glare on the now coated windshield. What was going on? It’s just pollen, why wouldn’t it simply wipe away? I kept pulling the washer fluid lever to no avail. Moving at a whopping four miles an hour or so, I was able to get down the road, turn around, and get back to my drive way.

When I got out of the car. I ran my hand across the glass and it felt incredibly coarse and even sticky. As it turns out, there were apparently other substances in the air that had landed on my windshield. With a little elbow grease, and a lot of Windex, I was able to wipe the coating away so that Jo would have a clear view for her outing.

All of this made me think; How easy is it to do things in haste, and blindly try to move forward? How often are the important things in life overlooked by the desire, or perceived need, to accomplish something? How many times has someone else’s need been shielded from our eyes in the rush that life puts upon us? And how often does our own spiritual health suffer as we cannot see through the distractions and blinding glare of this world?

Many times we sing “Open My Eyes, That I May See” during our worship services. It’s not just a song, but a prayer, and a powerful one at that. But if the time is not taken to utter those words, much as the time was not taken to wash my windshield, then we can be blind to what God wants for us and what God wants to do through us. I encourage us all to slow ourselves, take a moment, pray the prayer, and see with clarity the vision for our lives that is available through the love of God.

Thanks for reading and God Bless,
Greg