New Views

I like cleaning the house after Christmas. The decorations are up for a solid month or more. I put them up the day after Thanksgiving. I love the decorations, however there is one thing I don't love. The Christmas tree goes in a corner of our great room, by the front window. I do this so passersby can see the beautiful lights of the tree. However, this is also "my corner."

I have a beloved old recliner that goes in the corner by the window. Beside it is an end table with all my computers, plugs, drawing tools, book notes, pens, and chargers -- all neatly organized on a lower shelf next to my beloved old recliner. Since a huge portion of my day is spent drawing and writing on my laptop or iPad, this corner of my house is my work station. It is the best seat in the house. I can turn my head, and look out the window, watch the neighborhood saunter by with their dogs, or the sun rise over the trees, or the birds flit about the birch tree branches. If I face inside, I can see nearly every room of our house, with its open floor plan. Out the back sunroom windows, I can watch the sunset. I can see my family in the kitchen, or at the dining room table. I can see the dogs on the couch where they are not really supposed to be but which they gradually highjacked.

But for Christmas, the tree gets my corner. Instead of facing my kingdom, my recliner is now turned so that my back is to most of my house. The tree blocks my view out the window. It is only for a month, but I feel displaced and unsettled. I long for my corner.

Nonetheless, I think it is good for us all to be displaced for a time, nudged off kilter from our usual habits. It is good to have a new perspective, consider other views, see God and His creation from a new angle. I actually grew to find some pleasing aspects of the new position. I face the fireplace, and almost the only time we have a fire is over Christmas. I can look out the front door, and watch the dogs as they bark at the postman.

It is like reading a different translation of the Bible. Sometimes it makes familiar stories sparkle with new, previously unnoticed revelations. It reminds me how important it is to try to see the world through another person's eyes. We might all get along better if we could practice that more often. It is also a little like the admonition in Ephesians to "put off your old self...and be renewed in the spirit of your minds."

However, the day after Christmas, I eagerly put away the decorations. I put the tree back in the attic, and drag my beloved recliner back to my corner. I replace all my computer things, and drawing supplies, and writing materials on the little endtable. I settle back and with a sigh, look happily over my house, and notice the familiar with new, appreciative eyes...things that were always there but somehow escaped my notice.
****************

Ephesians 4:22-24 (ESV)
22 to put off your old self,[a] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org
http://www.amazon.com/Vicky-Kaseorg/e/B006XJ2DWU