Spiritual Defroster by Catherine Weiskopf

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 1 Corinthians 13:12 (The Message)

Eight a.m. on a cool fall day my daughter and I headed out to her soccer game.  Starting the car, frosty windows surrounded us. From inside the car I saw the world through a translucent haze. I turned on the defroster and waited. Air burst out, and an inch near the base of the window became clear.  If I bent over, and strained my neck I could see clearly. Slowly the clearness inched its way up the foggy window: unclouded glass taking over haze. After a few minutes of patience my window was good to go.

Driving off immediately and not waiting patiently for the windows to clear would have been dangerous. My immediate thought was to connect the frosted window to my foggy spiritual vision. Often I wake up in full speed not even checking in with God before I jump into the day’s tasks. I race from place to place, task to task without seeing my world and the people around me clearly through God’s eyes.  When I can’t see where I am going spiritually, I can and do drive off His road.  When a friend slights me, when I see something I want but can’t have, or someone insults one of my children, my wheel jerks to the left and soon I am on another path driving down a gravel road where I’m likely to slide into the ditch.  Minute by minute I need to use my spiritual defrosters: the Bible, religious books, church, praying, and listening to God, so I can find my way back onto God’s road.

That morning, I would never have driven without defrosting my window, yet many days I started my day without turning on my spiritual defroster. While driving with foggy windows was dangerous, living with unclear spiritual vision has even more devastating consequences.

Dear God, Help me to be more aware of when my spiritual vision is getting cloudy and I need your defrosting to see clearly. Help me to take the time to spend time with you so that I can see your spiritual road distinctly.