Out my window I can see leaves afire from sunshine on fall colors. The view warms me inside. Other days I have seen collected winter snow clouds. And at other times summer storms and often blue skies. Looking out I can see weather, usually moving away, toward other communities, but sometimes coming our way.
Two times we have seen the ominous smoke of a tragic fire. The smoke collected and streamed across the sky like storm clouds bringing something fierce. But instead, they were the result of something fierce that had already happened, and was continuing to happen. Once a large factory was ablaze, recently a large airplane had crashed. In each, people died, the toxins of burning chemicals caused many more people to “shelter in place” and sadness filled the air more completely than the smoke.
Smoke on the horizon can make you believe you are seeing a storm cloud. It looks the same and yet it doesn’t as it develops and spreads. And often the smell, if you are in the right (or wrong) place tells you convincingly that this is not a sign of coming rain. Rain has a different smell, one that is pleasant enough even if you don’t want the rain.
What are you seeing out your window? Storms? Smoke? Blue skies? And is it coming or going? The view out my window is to the northwest. Truly, the weather rarely comes from that direction. Weather usually moves across our area from the southwest toward the northeast. So, what is out the window is often too late to prepare for, it is well underway. It may even be about to pass. And life can be like the weather; once you begin to understand what is happening, it is too late to change much about it. But we can notice it and noticing matters. If you look up once in a while from the indoor activities and entertainments, there is a better chance to know what is going on. Once you notice you can allow that it is going to happen and investigate more.
A pastor friend told me he often talked to married couples where the wife would tell her husband they should go to counseling. The husband would defer saying they didn’t need it. Then after time had passed, she would say she wanted a divorce, he would then say let’s go to counseling. The husbands in those stories were not noticing what was happening.
A man very respected in the community, with a position of authority and respect began relationships outside his marriage. Increasing amounts of alcohol helped numb his guilt for this. Soon he was in circumstances he had never thought he would be, breaking morals he felt ran deeply. Addictions thrive in darkness, habits and behaviors grow outsize of the person’s ability to manage them. What might have been a brief indulgence becomes a pattern, then turns into a monster that controls the person.
Looking out the window is required to notice. It involves looking outside oneself but also looking inside more deeply. Looking clearly inside is looking out of the habits and automatic behaviors that can keep us numb to reality. Patterns and routines are good only if they allow for time for reflection. If you never reflect on what you are doing, why you are doing it, or the reality of what is really happening trouble is ahead. You become like a machine operating on old programming that is taking you toward a cliff of unforeseen consequences.
I heard second hand about a woman who was in a relationship she felt was not good for her. So, she got out. She had never made enough money to support herself but luckily, she got a great settlement and had money to live on. But not forever. Despite repeated encouragement to seek out a job she did not. She plowed ahead toward a financial cliff.
Reality always wins out. Someone in short sleeves and shorts on a cold day may just have wanted it to be warm outside and so dressed as if it was. They will get cold. When the roof of a house is ignored too long, holes will let the rain in. When the enemy troops collect on the border of a country, ignoring them doesn’t stop the invasion. Creating more disposables and throwing away trash for years makes landfills grow to the size of small mountains. Being too busy for your children turns them into strangers. Wishful thinking is just that, wishful. Reality always wins out. But reality isn’t always bad perhaps just unnoticed.
Looking out my window has had some special moments over the years. One summer day the sky grew especially dark and angry looking. And those clouds were not moving away but coming down towards us. It seemed best to close everything up tight and make a trip to the basement. Only later did we realize that a tornado that devastated a community south of us had gone right over us that day.
Other days my sister who lives nearby will call and say she sees a rainbow. Then we step out and look around the side of the house that has no windows and see the colors bow across the sky.
What do you need to do to notice better? Look inside, look outside the window. Allow that it is happening. It may be bad weather or smoke. It could be blue skies and beauty. Investigate your reality and take the steps you need to take.
