Friday, October 5, 2012

A Tale of Windows - Part II

(for Part I, click here)

(228/365) brighter than sunshine
Photo Credit
...If you leave the smudges, you will soon loose everything else. You already avoid the light. You already see nothing beyond your own pane.

"But..." my voice faded to a whisper as the realization dawned upon me:
They were my smudges.
 
My house. My windows. My smudges.
 
Wordlessly, I filled a bucket and picked up a sponge. Painfully, I dipped into the warm, soapy water and began to scrub. May no one ever know what it cost me to clean that first window! I felt the dirt, the grease, and the mold scrub off as though the filth was torn fom my very soul. I cried unrestrainedly, finding it necessary to stop my work every few minutes to exchange foul-smelling black water for fresh, clear water from the tap.
 
But as I finished that first window, as the light came pouring in with greater beauty than I could ever remember, I caught my first glimpse of life beyond the pane. Beautiful world! The second window was cleaned so quickly, I didn't even have time to remember how each smudge it held had come into existence. I wanted to see again! I wanted the dirt gone! I wanted others to come and marvel at the view with me! The smudges were nothing, compared to the glorious light and immaculate sight that clean windows offered!

...I was there, I must confess, for hours. Never before, and never since, have my windows seen such thickly-laid smudges. A few times, I came upon a smear so big, so hard to eradicate, so vivid in the memory of how it came to be, that I almost gave up. But then I would hear the musical "Keep going! You are only just beginning to really see!" from the pure, untainted light shining beside me, and I knew I couldn't stop.

Now, when the sun rises each morning, it finds me sitting before my windows, waiting. As it pierces through the crystal-clear panes, my joy knows no bounds. Yes, smudges still come, often daily, but now I know the truth. The effort to clean my windows is nothing compared to the glorious light I see through spotless panes. If I scrub them faithfully, immediately, never leaving a single smudge through the night, I receive the greatest of rewards:
Pure.
Undefiled.
LIGHT.
 


2 comments:

Mikaela said...

This is fantastic. You so very eloquently and purposefully make a very important point!

SarahJayne said...

thanks, mika :)