Good morning…
“Sue, I love this message – and it’s a lesson I’ve gradually learned this past year hosting a weekly Bible study in my home for the first time,” one of you wrote after our Monday post, Welcome To Our Messy Home.
She noticed her change of heart: “For the first meeting back in September, I made sure everything from the kitchen to the front porch was cleaned, fluffed and freshened. Bit by bit, however, I let go of my ‘fear of man’ and started to replace it with ‘fear of God,’ shifting my focus from pleasing people to pleasing God.”
Gradually, her change of heart was reflected in her actions: “Instead of cleaning the front door cobwebs or breakfast dishes in the sink, I’d sit with a verse a little longer, or read an extra devotional in preparation. Such a lesson in submission, but I am so much happier being a ‘back door friend’ as you dubbed it many years ago in one of your devotionals. Like Anne Graham says, when we are authentic we can truly welcome people into our hearts – and homes!”
I love that she reminds me of one of our all-time-favorite blog posts, a post we shared back in December 2017.
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Back Door People
Good morning…
“You are definitely a back door person,” he said as I left the party last night. “Most everyone else came through the front door, but not you, you are a back door person. You should write a blog about that.”
I went out the door and down the back stairs, jumped in my car and drove straight home. Hopping on my computer, I now write my blog ‘about that.’
We all need our back door people.
Back door people see us at our worst yet believe in our best.
Back door people don’t need our doorbell but they do need our time.
Back door people allow our guard to go down and our inner voice to well up.
Back door people are our favorite sweatshirt, soft and cozy, well worn, trusted.
Skipping over smiley small talk, our back door people understand our hurts and our hangups, our hopes and our hearts as our eyes meet above the crowd.
Some friends don’t help, but a true friend is closer than your own family (Proverbs 18:24, CEV),
Sue
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Today might we welcome a change of heart, mind, focus? …for your mind is not set on God’s will or His values and purposes, but on what pleases man (Mark 8:33, AMP). As the LORD shifts us from pleasing people to pleasing God, our behaviors change, and we become favorite sweatshirts to one another, soft and cozy, well worn, trusted.
…Sue…
