Give Me New Eyes

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Matthew 2:3 (NIV)

Taking down Christmas decorations is not my favorite thing. The excitement and anticipation makes getting them out, so much more fun than putting them away.

And every year it never fails that I leave some piece of Christmas decor out, after I have already put the others away. You know, after a month or so, I've just gotten so used to seeing the decorations that they begin to look normal in their place. A day or two later I will find an item that I accidentally left out which should have gone back in a box.

I was feeling quite proud of myself this year because I didn't think I had made that mistake. Having been under the weather with a sinus infection the week after Christmas, I didn't take my tree and decorations down until this past weekend. Finally, with my children's help, everything was hidden away in the closet and/or basement by Saturday evening. And I breathed a huge sigh of relief!

Funny then how critical I seemed to be on Sunday morning of other people's outside decorations. Wow, they really need to get those down! We're already a week into January, I thought.

I even made a comment as we pulled around the last curve on our road and began to turn into our driveway when...GASP!!!

What was that???

A red and green "Merry Christmas, Y'all!" was still magnetized to our mailbox!

How had I missed it? I was so certain I had taken care of all of my stuff! I was immediately embarrassed. Especially because it was showing on the outside!

Everyone who passed by our house could have said the exact same thing I had been saying about others. Perhaps a little something like, "It's January, Y'all! Time to take down the Christmas decorations!"

Made me think of the above verse and I felt a little convicted to say the least. So, I am asking God to give me new eyes for the new year.

How much of my own "stuff" shows on the outside that I never notice? Yet I can so easily spot other people's "stuff" that I believe needs attention.

How about you? Are we often times quick to judge others with a critical spirit? We don't always know what another individual is going through.

Heavenly Father, forgive me. Give me new eyes to see my own faults - to examine my own "house and yard" rather than my neighbor's, and put away any behavior that it unpleasing to You. May I become much quicker to confess and repent of the wrong that I do, rather than passing judgment.

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:2 (NIV)