Helen Tyte
Windows and washing
A young couple moved into a new neighbourhood. The first morning they were sitting together eating breakfast when the young woman saw her neighbour hanging her washing outside.
“That laundry is not very clean,” she said. “She obviously doesn’t know how to wash properly. Maybe she needs to buy better laundry soap.”
Her husband looked on, but remained silent.
Every time the neighbour would hang her washing out to dry, the young woman would make similar comments about how dirty the clothes still looked.
About a month later, the woman was surprised to see nice clean washing on the line and said to her husband, “Look, she has finally learned how to wash properly. I wonder who told her?”
The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”
And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look. The lesson from the window story is obvious, before we judge others, let us first clean our own windows.
In Matthew chapter 7 verses 1-5 Jesus taught us this:
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For the judgement you give will be the judgement you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.
Do not fall into the comparison trap or become so preoccupied with what others are doing that we lose sight of God’s leadings in our own life.
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It is so very easy to slip and fall into the comparison trap. I do it without even realising, and usually find myself looking back and thinking, "How did that happen?" Contentment is a gift, but it is not easy when life is a struggle. Lack of money, lack of health, lack of relationships, and so on, all tempt us to look at others and wish we had what they have. I wonder, typing out loud, if contentment beings with consciously being grateful and thankful for the things we do have, even if that is not very much?
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Great insight and questions.