"Takin' Time Out"

Definition:   an opening in the wall or roof of a building or vehicle that is fitted with glass or other transparent material in a frame to admit light or air and allow people to see out.

 

It’s January and the bitter cold outside makes me happy to be indoors with a warm fire in the fireplace.  Sitting here sipping on a delicious cup of Earl Grey tea pondering what to write about this week, hmmm I look up and the beautiful sunrise is entering through my kitchen WINDOW.  The start of a brand new day!  That’s it a WINDOW…

 

As I glance around into my family room, I see the most beautiful reflection of color coming to life through my stained glass WINDOW it hangs within a WINDOW by my nesting chair.  This stained glass is not just any ordinary stained glass WINDOW.    You see it was one of the most precious gifts my sister has given to me.  It is the top half of a WINDOW that used to be in the little Baptist Church I grew up in.  The building was torn down and she was able to buy the whole WINDOW in an auction, I have the top half and she has the bottom half.   I have such precious memories of my childhood. It truly helped in laying the foundation of who I have become today. You see my mother was the organist for many years and our spot as a family was to always sit in the second pew from the front on the left hand side of the church.  So you can’t say I am a back row Baptist (LOL)!   I remember counting each sections of the pane while lying in my grandmother’s lap and watching the colors glisten, partially listening to what the pastor was saying.   Currently the WINDOW is just as it was, I haven’t touched it so the paint is peeling off, the wood frame is weathered but it is a gentle reminder of how our lives can reflect our true beauty.  I love this analogy:

 

 

Beauty truly comes from the inside just as the stained glass, not the frame not the paint color but the inside section of the WINDOW.  I know women who spend hours and tons of money finding the latest and greatest product putting on makeup and making sure every little detail is covered.  But they never spend time working on the inside.  Now don’t get me wrong I want to maintain this aging body too but it is more important to age gracefully.  I am a big believer it is more important to work on your thoughts, your words, your heart…soul…and mind where inner peace will radiate to the outside.  The wisdom, knowledge, passion and our internal relationship with God, believing in ourselves makes us who we are.  Not the year we were born.  Our internal compass and light will also show in how we handle the tough times…

 

So this brings up another point, I love Shakespeare’s famous quote: “The eyes are the WINDOW to your soul”.  They truly are…there is no escaping it.  If you need to know the truth behind someone’s words and actions you must look directly in the eye to see it.  Your eyes can reveal your health, your thoughts and your emotions.  Some people have a way of looking right through you.  If I am doing business with someone and they can’t look me in the eye…it is a good sign I need to walk away. I don’t trust them! Simply Amazing what the eyes portray!

 

I had the privilege this weekend to spend some extended one on one time with my 1 year old granddaughter.  I love to watch her expressions as she is busy exploring.  She will take a few steps but if she wants to get anywhere very fast she crawls.  At her house she has stairs she loves to climb there are three steps and then a landing turning to go up several flights to her room.  The landing has a WINDOW from floor to ceiling and she loves to pause and look outside to the street.  She puts her sweet little hands on the WINDOW, she starts to pat or bang saying something in her baby talk gibber.  She gets so excited and will spend an extended amount of time right there in the WINDOW, she lines her little toys up in the WINDOW seal before scooting down or moving on.  At our house I will leave the front door open which exposes the full glass screen door so she can see out.  We watch our dog Sage scoping out the neightborhood or wait for someone special to come up the walk!

 

Not sure but have you ever thought about if you enjoy being in a room with or without WINDOWS?  Maybe it depends on what you use the room for.  If you are a photographer developing your own photos then you need to have a dark room with no WINDOWS.  I quickly realized after living in Texas it is important to think about these things when purchasing or building a house.  Our first home was built with the front facing the east and the back facing the west which was a BIG mistake as the sun heated up the living room by several degrees in the summertime.  When we built our second home we made sure the house faced south and the back faced north.  We also had the house flipped from the original plans the kitchen and breakfast room is on the east and the bedrooms on the west for anyone who might like to sleep late the sunrise wouldn’t disturb them and cooking in the late afternoon we didn’t have the west sun to contend warming up the kitchen even more. I love WINDOWS but in our bedroom they had a whole wall of WINDOWS and I decided to take two of them out in order to give us more wall space.  Something else you have to think about when building a home, placement of furniture and sometimes the WINDOWS do not always cooperate.

 

WINDOWS are essential to me.  I love letting light in, however, living in the city I have to laugh we spend good amount of money to cover them up.  Many of our WINDOWS have WINDOW shades or blinds, drapes with sheers.  When I lived in the country all we had were curtains that usually tied back and you could look directly out all hours of the day or night.

 

I have read a couple different versions of the Man in the Next Bed and it has such great meaning and teaching I had to share:

 

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.

His bed was next to the room’s only WINDOW.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end.

They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation..

Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the WINDOW could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the WINDOW.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The WINDOW overlooked a park with a lovely lake.  Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the WINDOW described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon, the man by the WINDOW described a parade passing by.

Although the other man could not hear the band – he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the WINDOW portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days, weeks and months passed.
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the WINDOW, who had died peacefully in his sleep.

She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the WINDOW.
The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.
He strained to slowly turn to look out the WINDOW besides the bed.

It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this WINDOW.

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, ‘Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.’

Epilogue: There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.
Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled.
If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t buy.
‘Today is a gift that is why it is called The Present.’

The origin of this letter is unknown

 

As we travel along this journey and “Takin Time Out”, I encourage each of you to learn from your experiences and realize just how far you have come by peering through the rear view mirror.  Please don’t dwell too long and miss what is in front of you through the big wide WINDOW called the windshield.  I also realize many of you are facing unknown circumstances and you feel a door has been shut or tightly closed.  A scripture from Malachi 3:10 will remind us “When God closes a door he opens a WINDOW”.  Spend some time talking with him and listening carefully.   Until next time my dear friend when you peer through a WINDOW I hope you have a new perspective towards this wonderful and a crazy life we live…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*******************************************************************