Windows

Several years ago, I found myself headed down to Tennessee with one of my college roommates for a weekend at her family’s lake house.  I was fully expecting a rustic cabin complete with dampness and mosquitoes that bite you while you sleep.  However, as I was shaken awake (I fall asleep almost the second I get into a car,) we were pulling into the driveway of a gorgeous mansion.  My excitement over an outdoorsy adventure was quickly enveloped with a deep (and somewhat relieved) sigh.  This was going to be more like royal treatment than cooking marshmallows over a campfire.  I can’t say I was upset about it either. 

As we entered the foyer to raised ceilings, exposed beams, and pristine carpets, I quickly noticed something.  You could see a full, unobstructed view of the lake from literally anywhere in the entire house.  Vast pine trees, peaks of sunshine through their branches hit the water and made it look like glitter.  It took your breath away.  As I was given a tour of the house, I began to feel more and more at home.  Like this was somewhere I could rest and not be called lazy for it.  I was shown the master bedroom and as I grazed past the bathroom, I noticed something unusual.  The shower was encompassed by two glass walls, both which faced outside.  I couldn’t believe it… even the view from the shower was stunning.  The way the house was built made the shower almost hover out over a large hill that overlooked the lake.  The area was private, but I still would not have felt total comfortable showering in front of two windows that stretched from floor to ceiling.  Then I found out the windows were made of one-way glass.  You could see out, but nobody could see in.  Perfect.  It was just perfect.  Or at least it seemed to be.

The luster of beautiful things fades both literally and metaphorically when it cannot be seen.  Does beauty even exist if no one else experiences it?  (Kind of like that old saying: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?)  My answer: I don’t know.  I don’t know if beauty or sound or fear or whatever exists if no one is there to experience it.  But how many times do we find ourselves amidst something beautiful only to realize that we are only mesmerized temporarily by what we can “look out” at.  Do you think, perhaps, that the beauty around us was created to reflect the beauty He created IN us?  We already know that Christ died because He saw us as beautiful enough to save.  Part of that beauty in us is our freedom to love, our freedom to be seen, and our freedom to be known.  We could live our entire lives looking through one-way glass without letting anyone else see in… without letting anyone else see our vulnerability… our nakedness.  The Father enjoys our beauty, but will not take it from us.  He wants it to be OFFERED to Him.  The more we realize how beautiful we are, the less fearful we are of being seen, both by God and by others.  So let the glass be shattered my friends.  Let them in… let others and your Savior enjoy your beauty.  For as this proves, walls, even glass ones, can be deceiving. 

“And the king will desire your beauty.  Since he is your lord, bow to him.”  Psalm 45:11