Are your windows clean?

I was washing dishes one morning, when the doorbell rang.  When I answered it, a young man stood at the door, asking if I would like my windows cleaned.  I looked over at the glass in the living room, and thought to myself, 'They look clean.'-- so I told the nice young man, 'No thank you', and he left.  

Six months later, the same nice young man came again.  'Would you like your windows cleaned?' Again, I looked, and knowing I had just used Windex less than five days ago, I said, 'No thank you'.  

This time, after he left, I stood inside my living room, and looked out.  I examined my windows around the house, I walked slowly past each one, and really looked.  You know what?  My living room window was sparkling clean.  My kitchen windows were pretty clean, but in the rest of the house.....those windows weren't so clean and sparkly.  They had smears, cobwebs and dust in the corners, and there was a dead fly in more than one window in the back of the house.

Maybe I should have said, "Yes."

 

How often do we take the time and energy to clean what can be seen by others on our public image, but leave our private, and personal areas less than clean and tidy?   Do we allow the dust and dirt to build up over time, or even worse: do we purposefully add to the grime?  I am speaking of living our lives in such a way as to have our public and personal identity be equally full of integrity-- of honestly living what we claim to hold dear.

Our eyes are the windows to our soul.  But sometimes our 'windows' get a little dirty.  It can be hard and difficult to stay close to our Heavenly Father if we are trying to see Him in our lives with dirty windows.  Things get clouded, and dull.  We can no longer see clearly, or even see and understand His directions for us if we choose not to consistently clean our act up.  

What does it mean to 'clean up'?  It means saying 'No,' a lot. It means saying, 'No,' to such public poisons like porn.  It means saying, 'No,' to big and little lies.  It means saying, 'No,' to acting in anyway contrary to what you know to be right.  It means keeping your private life just as clean and tidy as your public one.  

Wouldn't that change so many dynamics in our society if everyone did this?  

Cleaning our 'windows',  also means saying, 'Yes' a lot.  Yes to all the good things around us.  It is choosing people over things.  It is choosing to allow the Atonement of Christ to actively work in our lives.  It means us personally taking responsibility for keeping our eyes on the things that bring peace, hope, and faith.  

We are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, and as such, we have the divine right to inspiration and guidance from a loving Heavenly Father.  However, we must not forget what Peter Parker learned, "With great power, comes great responsibility."  We need to speak up, and speak out about what we are choosing for ourselves.  We don't get to sit down on the couch and expect everything on the T.V. to be a perfect fit for us-- and we certainly don't have to applaud those shows or movies that have so many people enthralled, if we know that there are going to be parts in them that we know will add grime to our souls. Instead, we take responsibility for what our eyes will see, and what our ears will hear.  

Here is a line I came across this week:  The real life we are preparing for, is eternal life.--  President Henry B. Eyring.   

I want to see life-- and I want to see it clearly.  

Pass the Windex.