It should be a surprise to no one that with four little ones underfoot I have a hard time keeping the house clean. This is especially true in the bathroom we all share. This is the space in the house where we all come to get clean and in the process it gets pretty dirty. I believe it’s true that kids in large families know the first one in and out of the bath gets the warmest water, the cleanest tub, and the driest towel. By the last child that water is starting to run pretty cold and if you think I’m washing four towels every bath night you are mistaken. When the last child is getting out of the tub, that’s when I notice how dirty that bathtub has gotten. I always intend to clean it out, but in the mad dash for pajamas and bedtime stories it rarely happens right away.
So I should notice later when I go to take my own shower how bad things have gotten, but here’s the thing- I’m pretty blind without my glasses. It’s possible for me to never notice how bad it’s gotten because I can’t see and I’ve already forgotten the ring around the tub I was just staring at an hour earlier. I think my own sins and flaws work in kind of the same way.
When I’m in the midst of them it’s easy to just think they don’t exist. I can keep going about my business sure I’m doing everything right. Sometimes it takes the words of another person in my life to help me see exactly how bad things have become. In that moment I can choose to continue my blindness or choose to see what’s revealed. When we’re confronted with our sins we need to be humble enough to realize we haven’t been seeing what we didn’t want to see. I might be defensive if I can’t see what they see, but when the person loves me, it’s so important to listen to what they have to say and try to see with their eyes.