The Cross Next to the Door

I sat in the front room of my house spending some quiet-and-still-with-God time.  Usually I settle on the floor of my office in the back corner of my home, but this particular morning, I was drawn to sit near the window that looks out to our neighborhood.

As I opened my eyes, I saw something unnoticed by me previously, a large, lovely, wrought-iron cross hanging on the neighbors' home across the street just next to their garage door.  From my narrow view through a pane in the window, the cross and the wall to which it was attached were all that could be seen of their home.  Asking my husband whether the decoration was new, he replied, "No.  That cross has always been there."

For a while I gazed at it, enjoying the focus of the symbol of Jesus' sacrifice for all, for me, for my neighbors.  I've never noticed it before, I kept thinking, surprised by my having overlooked it.

What had captured my attention these years as I occasionally looked across the street?The flatbed trailer parked next to the curb to haul four-wheelers to the desert each weekend, seeing the excitement of the occupants of that home as their son returned from Afghanistan, a new RV, hedges planted in front of the RV to help meet city storage codes, father and son working on cars together, some things that impressed me about their family, others that upset me about my street looking more cluttered.

Sitting with all my thoughts, the one that settled and resounded within me was this:  If Jesus is not in every person, He is right next to the door of the heart of each person, longing to dwell within them.  God is at work in and just outside of, if you will, everyone's life!  When I interact with people, easily I am distracted by what impresses me or that of which I don't approve, when Christ is there, drawing that person to Himself.  If Jesus is not in a human's heart, is He not at the doorstep seeking entrance?  That's what I long to focus on, the activity, the voice, the presence of God in a person's life, whether that individual has acknowledged Him yet or not.

I join with Paul in His first letter to the Corinthians, wherein he recites his resolve, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."
(2 Cor. 2:2, ESV)

Lord, please give me eyes to see You, ears to hear You, a heart that responds to You as I journey with others, letting the distraction of my opinions fall away.  How cluttered my own life becomes, where my vision of You is obstructed and the din of my self-made busy-ness overpowers the sound of Your heartbeat.  Thank You for the cross of Christ!  I love how, like my neighbors' house decoration, "It's always been there," for me and for everyone.

diane mann 2012