Windshield Wipers

Looking past people’s issues to focus on the bigger picture

Have you ever driven in the rain without windshield wipers?

It was raining as I was driving home from the office yesterday afternoon, and for one reason or another, I decided to turn off my windshield wipers, just to test to see if I could go without them.

Perhaps I had a slight advantage in this scenario because I’m used to having glasses — if you’ve ever worn glasses for more than a day, you know that even without you ever coming into contact with the lens, they still somehow manage to get dirty and full of smudges on their own — but I prevailed, and was able to drive at least 4 miles in the rain without windshield wipers.

But you know what? It doesn’t take a whole lot of rocket science to figure out how to do it, it’s actually quite simple; you just choose to focus at what’s beyond the glass, not the hundreds of rain droplets on your windshield. Even though the rain seems to overwhelmingly cover your field of vision, you can still choose to shift your focus on the road ahead.

As I was driving home like this, I had a moment of realization. This is what it’s like to look past someone’s sins and still continue to focus on something else, despite their blaring and obvious faults.

You see, inasmuch as rain droplets are clearly visible and have no intention of leaving your windshield when you’re driving without wipers, people’s sins, shortcomings, and personality faults are very clearly evident when you are working with them (in any capacity, not necessarily just in an office), and you must intentionally set your eyes on a goal that’s beyond just whatever is wrong with the person right in front of you.

As good-intentioned people, we often get into situations where our first desire is to fix someone; we encounter a person with problems, and we want to fix them. However, if we truly want to get down the road and grow, we sometimes have to just look right past them and continue on towards our missions without focusing on their issues.

Let’s keep our eyes on the goal, and perhaps we’ll score.

God bless you, have a great day!