My Dirty Window by Jennifer Marshall

Welcome new contributor Jennifer Marshall!! We look forward to sharing more of your work.

I've been washing windows today and this has given me a lot of time to think and pray to God.

While doing so I'm thinking to myself how we are like the window (the dirty window). What does your window look like when looking through it, when others do, but more importantly what does God see?

I think about the water stains and wonder, are they like tears of others whom we have hurt and we need to go to and ask for forgiveness. Are they tears from God for our sins?

What about the bug poop? I wonder if they are spots of mud that we have slung at others in our thoughts or words of hurt, guilt, shame, jealousy? Could any of those spots be at God, when things didn't go our way, or when things have happened and we thought we could handle it without Him?

And the smudges, OH the dreaded smudges? Where we tried to wipe it clean once before and failed. Are these things we've asked God for forgiveness but haven't really repented? Or could it be where we have said we have forgiven someone or even God for something that has went wrong but we know down deep that we really haven't.

Through all of those spots and smudges, God's window to our soul is wiped clean every time we truly ask for His forgiveness. How amazing is His Love!!!

I hope you can clean your window today not for yourself but for the Lord. So the light that is within will shine through.

Soak up the Son by Theresa Zuber

It’s summer and many people are soaking up the sun and enjoying all the activities that summertime allows. It seems that most products contain some form of SPF to protect you from the harmful rays. However, I heard a report recently that many children are Vitamin D deficient because their parents are so diligent about applying the sunscreen that these children are not getting this precious vitamin that the sun provides. Go figure.

I find it interesting that our English language makes such parallels with our spiritual truths. The sun (Son) is the center of our universe. If the sun (Son) were removed, our life would cease. When the sun (Son) is shining, people’s spirits are happier, uplifted and brighter. Without the sun (Son), growth is stunted and incomplete.

Come into the Son-light! Don’t slather on a protective shield that keeps his presence from penetrating to your very core. You have nothing to fear. And, just like the sun, when you spend time allowing His light to shine on you, people will see a difference when they look at you! But just as a summer tan can fade away once you stop the daily exposure to the sun, so you can lose your “glow” from being with the Lord if other priorities take His place. Soak in His presence daily to receive the spiritual nutrition you need for your life on this earth.

John 3:36 (The Message) “Whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn't see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that."