Our cottage dwells in the midst of primarily year around homes.  Thus, our neighbors, Linda & Charlie on the east side have kids & grandkids who come around from time to time as does Mrs. Foxx on the other side (good, long-time United Methodist).  So, it is no big deal to hear the noise of kids and to see darting bodies in and through the trees.   One day last week, I heard a rather timid knock at the door.   It surprised me, as I couldn’t imagine who would be coming to see me.  When I opened the door, no one was there.  There really was, it just required adjusting my look downwards.   When I refocused my sight downward I discovered the source of the knock was a six or seven year old boy, grandson of Linda and Charlie.   This is the young man who, one time when our daughter Rachel was there, made it into the house without permission and then took the disposable camera laying on the counter and began taking pictures.   His parents and grandmother expressed to him, their displeasure with this decision.  Anyway, here he was (don’t know his name) and he says, “Is Rachel home?”  Now, Julie and I have not had a lot of experience with guys coming to knock on the door to see our daughter, say nothing of a six year old.   The age difference is a little more than I could handle - he six, she twenty-nine.   He was very disappointed when I said no.  I felt I needed to reassure him a couple times that she really wasn’t there.

I did notice though he had in his hands a set of magnets, which I had sense enough to ask him about.  I then sat down on the deck steps and played with the magnets and we talked about many other things, including the fact his family was having corn on the cob for supper, only because his mother really wanted some.  Finally, I said I needed to go check on the sweet corn I had on the stove boiling and so I returned to him the magnets and he walked home, a rejected and disappointed young man.  If I let my imagination go, I could imagine him walking with shoulders sunk low and mumbling something like, “what a fool I am, to think she would want to be with someone like me.”  I did tell him I would let her know he had stopped by, which I did immediately after I went back in the house (she was really out as I ended up leaving a message on her cell phone). 

I think in the whole work of creation, God discovered one of the most exquisite feelings, of having someone come to the door and knock hoping we will be home.  Thus, God included it in the creation story, knowing how good it feels to have someone else want us to be home – even if he is six.   

Till next week…H  

P.S. Copies of this message are available on the Connection Center.