Life with Tinted Glasses

I sat with my coffee and marveled at the amazing pinks and purples of the sunset. It was soft and glowed with warmth.  Later, I drove through the prairie and again, marveled at the intense greens and clouds vivid against the deep blue sky.

Wait, the sunset looks different over through this window. And when I tip down my sunglasses to check the radio, lo and behold, the scenery changes. Hey, life does look better through rose colored glasses!

The previous owner of my new home was unduly concerned that someone might peek in the windows- windows that face prairie and the nearest neighbor a quarter of a mile away.  So she paid big bucks to have the windows professionally coated. Coated with expensive film so the interior is obscured. Now the summer sun is also blocked so it does serve a purpose.  Or did. 

It was also purple. Now, was it purple by design or did it change with age? Would anyone really chose to have purple tinted windows, hence a purple tinted house?  Not me!  Luckily, there was just a bit coming loose by the edge, just calling to be tugged at. Whoop- it pulls right off. Well, not in one nice piece. In fact, it took several fingernails, then razor blades, and finally razor blades AND  a hair dryer set on high andwe finally pull off the last offending strips.  A sledge hammer was the next tool in my arsenal.  You know, once you start that sort of project it looks like a mess until you figure out how to finish it.

So now I have a beautiful window that lets in plenty of GOLDEN light. The wood is warm, ok, almost orange but at least it’s natural. Purple wood is not natural.  And the adjacent window is begging to be peeled.  I’ll skip the fingernails and go right for the blow torch, I mean hairdryer and a fresh razor blade.

And my sunglasses give the world just the nicest golden glow.  The colors are just more vivid, the contrast stronger. The world is a more beautiful place.

So do we have tinted glass to view the real world,  not the world of mountains and plains, but the world of people and circumstances? Of spirit and soul.  I thought as I sat and compared purple and golden. Yes, I will miss my purple sunrises.  Maybe I’ll try sunglasses.

But what I really want to recognize the tint I put on my world.  Does bitterness sometimes cloud my vision?  Do my misperceptions color the reality that is before me?  We’ve all met people with a black cloud over their lives. They live life in lack and need.  We can become attached to our vision, to the tint that becomes normal to us.  We lose sight of the fact that wood should not be purple. Pull off that film.  Let the sunshine in!

I really want to view my world with the tint, the attitude of kindness and tolerance. With mercy and grace.  Can I see the beauty in the faces of those I love? I can if chose to “put on the new self, being created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness”.

Righteousness- being made in right standing with God; standing right with God, seeing with His eyes. 

Holiness-  sanctified, made like Him, seeing like Him. 

His eyes see the world, our fallen world with love. He sees us as we are meant to be, as we are becoming, as we will be.  He sees perfection and He delights in us; He rejoices over us with love.

And because of Him, I want to see the world through the tint of love.