Garage Door

 

The radiant sun cast beams of golden light on the garage door. Inside the walls were lined with insecurities, fears, things I didn't want people to see. I kept that door locked, it was not the side of me I wanted others to see. Friends, acquaintances, even family I would welcome in through the front door. Here I kept things neat and tidy. Here I was me, just the smarter, stronger, more likeable, less real version of me. At night I would go back to my garage through the back door. the piles of doubt surround one corner, stacks of immoral desire in another. The collection seemed to grow and while I felt powerless to rid the room of these things the gravity of it all overwhelmed me. I felt shame for the things I could not show others. I felt distance from the world I withheld this side from.

Standing outside now, I saw the light as it swept over every crevice and crack in that old garage door. Every imperfection was filled with the gold cast by the sun. All of the grime that once hide in the shadows were washed away in the glare of morning's light. It was the same ratty old door but it looked new, different, even beautiful. 

Suddenly jealousy overcame my heart. I walked up and touched the aged wood, the cracks were all there, nothing had changed, but something had. It's imperfections were made visible here in my sight. They gave its figure a level of depth that felt genuine. I peered in the window, the blinds closed, lights off. I wondered for a moment what it would look like there were I to open that door, Letting the light touch all that filled the room.
As my fingers brushed over the cracks of the wood my eyes were traced back to the cracks of my own flesh. They too were filled with light. How quickly the light swallows the dark. Grace has the same effect on the heart. We might want to hide the sinful desires of our heart in the shadows of our own selfishness and Pride but it will cut us off from this world and our Father and we too will feel overwhelmed, secluded, and destitute. The Lord is the sun that cast grace on our hearts, filling our imperfections with forgiveness and hope. 

And suddenly there was a knock at the back door and a warm glow flooded in from beneath the door. I rushed to let the man in for I was told of his unfailing love and grace. The stranger stepped into the filth covered floor and embraced me. He saw none of the porn that littered the floor, none of beer bottles or hallucinogens that filled the back corner. None of the many idols that covered the walls caught his eye. What he did see was the tears in my eyes and the dirt on my knees. I could not give these things up on my own but here in his arms I had no need for them. Here in his arms I was no longer a stranger but my father's child.