Clean The Glass

Year 4-Day 80: Today, I am grateful that gratitude is Windex to our vision. 

Yes, I do believe that gratitude clears our vision. It is why in the midst of trouble, we hold on to the things that still inspire gratitude.  Simple but wonderful things like loved ones to hug...our daily bread...and breath. Simple. Precious. Awe inspiring because each is a gift from God.

Sometimes, we "can't see the forest for the trees".  It is easy at times to miss the big, important picture while muddling with the details or what is boldly in front of us.  (It is an Old English phrase and the "for" would be translated "because of" today. ) Gratitude helps us focus.

It is Palm Sunday. The day we remember Jesus arriving in Jerusalem with palms waving and shouts of Hosanna.  It cringe just a little at how quickly the tides of popularity can turn, and that was before social media.  Jesus knew they did not understand what was ahead for him.  What a sobering moment and how alone he must have felt at times, even surrounded by his disciples and the people's cheers.  

This week is Holy Week. We will remember the week and the different moments.  We don't know all the details, as Jesus at times took time alone to pray and at other times, he was abandoned by his closest friends. From Palm Sunday to Friday...things would change. 

Heaven's special forces had arrived in a stable. Grew up working with wood by his earthly father's side. By his early thirties, the scandal of his birth had likely died down. He was Mary and Joseph's kid, until his mother really outed him at a wedding in Cana. She didn't demand a miracle, but presented the problem of the wine running out.  He turned water into wine...and that truly perpetuated the beginning of his season as a miracle worker and the revelation of his true majesty.  That miracle was the first swipe of the Windex over the glass so that people would begin to truly see Jesus. 

I love John's reminder that not all of his miracles were recorded.  There were to many.  Did it become "common occurrences" for those in his presence?

"Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." -John 21:25

About three years after the wedding wine...twelve disciples nurtured and trained...miracles to many to count...and we arrive at the week of his crucifixion.  Crazy!  Surely, in his half human state he marveled at the swift passage of time, as we do.  

He is the God of time and space who choose...in love...to limit himself to our spinning blue planet, so that we might know Him, love Him and find a restored and deeper relationship with the Father through him. He came that we might have fresh, new life. 

How appropriate that it coincides with the spring season. New life in Him and through Him is available for the asking. As we spring clean our windows...we can spring clean our hearts. What is in the way of living fully in His grace?  

I have discovered that gratitude unfolds our hearts and his light can fill the shadows. It opens us to clearly see him.  This Holy Week changed everything. "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna." 

"So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!' "- John 12:13

Will we see him this week in the Easter preparations? Do we see him in the new life that springs forth around us?  Do we see him in the beauty of an empty, blood stained wooden cross...the instrument of torture and death... that has been transformed into a symbol of propitiation, forgiveness, hope and new life. 

My Ear Worm is awake this morning and he is singing, "Open the Eyes of my heart Lord, I want to see you. I want to see you." He invites your ear worm to join him, as it is likely now stuck in your head, too. 

Today, I am grateful that gratitude is Windex to our vision.