Clean Your Windows

I’ve been writing Monday Messages for almost 20 years now and I usually try to relate them to current events. So when Father’s Day rolls around, it’s been my habit to try to write something related to my Dad. It’s been easy so far to come up with stories because my Dad was such a huge part of my life. He was always teaching me and inspiring me to do my best. But after so many years of stories, I struggled to think of something to write about this year. And then it hit me… right between the eyes!

It has been said that our eyes are the “window to our soul”. But my Dad taught me that your eyes are your “window to the world”. The way we see the world has a tremendous effect on how we feel, think and act. If we see the world and the people in it as harsh and cruel, it’s easy to become bitter and discouraged. But if we look with our eyes and see the beauty and compassion that constantly surrounds us, we can easily feel happy and encouraged.

Here’s a recent example. On Father’s Day, a friend of mine took his young son to Angel Stadium to watch the Angels play the Oakland Athletics. Halfway through the ball game a woman sitting next to them went for pizza and on the way back she tripped and fell down the steep concrete steps. She tore up her shins and scraped her knees and sent the pizza flying. She was bleeding and needed first aid, so immediately several people jumped up to help her. My friend felt so bad for her, he decided to go to the food court and bring her and her family back a replacement pizza. It would be easy to look at the boisterous crowd in a baseball stadium and see a loud, obnoxious, beer drinking, bunch of hooligans. But if we were to look really close through our “window to the world” we might just see compassionate, caring souls who are quick to offer help and generous beyond measure.

I know the world is filled with problems and that there are plenty of bad people out there. But thanks to my father and his awesome advice, I choose to use my eyes to focus on the good that I can see. And although I have to break out the Windex and clean my “windows” once in a while, I can always find something good to focus on. Thanks Dad, for teaching me to use my senses… to make some sense out of this world!

See everything, overlook a great deal.

~ Pope John XXIII