November 5, 2021

“But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. ~ Luke 11:41 NIV

I am in the middle of a quick trip to Ohio to check up on my sister, Carol. As I prepared for the trip, I stocked up on M&M’s, Oreos, and Utz’ Potato Chips for my junk food sister who doesn’t eat anything green, as in green vegetables.  I also filled my gas tank and cleaned the windows inside and out. 

Dirty windshields drive me just about crazy, and while driving through the car wash takes care of the outsides it doesn’t touch the inside. How in the world do they get so dirty? I don’t smoke, don’t often drive with my windows down, and yet they get dirty and smeary and make seeing, especially when sunlight or headlights gets refracted through the dirty.

Cleaning the inside of the windshield isn’t easy. Windex seems to smear, and those angles down near the corners are hard for me to reach. But a few years ago, I discovered the “So Sick With-It Windshield Cleaning Tool with a Pivoting Triangular Head,” while browsing an As Seen on TV store in Honolulu. The right tool makes all the difference.

As I cleaned the windshield – inside and out – I started to wonder about how what’s inside me affects how I see the world. I have knee jerk reactions to certain political signs, to the ways people look, when someone pushes one of my “pet peeve” buttons, when I let worry or shame so cloud my vision that I have trouble seeing God. Quite frankly, at times I am “So Sick with It,” meaning with myself.  

According to Jesus, the way to clean that windshield is generosity to others, giving the benefit of the doubt, and helping those in need.

Give me a pivoting heart and mind, generously open to others. ~ Anne