A Knock on the Door | Art, Haiku, And Blog Post
Would it not be grand
If someone came not to blame,
But to love, to help.
A voice softly speaks,
What has happened, has happened.
Happen happier.
As you may have noticed, I have not posted in a while. You may even notice that from time to time with future posts. With my mind the way it is, sometimes it’s like floating down a river; I come, I go, I slow, and I change. In recent news, I have had neck surgery: the replacement of two discs and a fusion between two vertebrae.
If I am to be completely honest, I have been racked with worry for at least a month now. I consider myself a brave person, and I will often put myself between trouble and someone who may not be able to handle it. But when trouble walks directly up to me, sometimes my cup of intentions becomes riddled in time, in excess. Plans of to-dos become lost in ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I’m not sure’. Worry has chased me through many seasons of life. I try not to let it get at me… But it does!
Two days ago, my grandmother came to visit me! She brought me some of my favorite Chinese food and we watched a classic movie called “Fox & the Hound.” If you were to press further as to why, she would tell you the story of me making her rent it from Blockbusters over and over and over as a child. Let’s just say, it’s the most expensive movie she’s ever bought!
We also watched another movie called “Saving Mr. Banks”, which gives insight into the writer’s backstory and her creation of the “Mary Poppins” film. While watching, a thought came to mind on the movie “Nanny McPhee”, which is another film my grandmother and I enjoy.
Both “Mary Poppins” and “Nanny McPhee” are about struggling fathers, struggling families, and struggling people desperately needing outside help.
I wonder how many of us would benefit from a Mary Poppins; Someone who expeditiously comes in one day and does all the housework, makes sure the children are fed and tidy, and does everything for you until the wind changes . If anything, to help clear the mind and schedule of a father, or a mother, that doesn’t have the option to cling to tiny, yet important moments anymore. If anything, to help a family get closer. If anything, to bring momentary yet gratifying relief.
I wonder how many of us would benefit from a Nanny McPhee; Someone who comes in with a loud, yet often unnoticed (or perhaps disregarded), knock on the door. Someone who will stay, regardless of if we want them to, and put us through trials to teach us things we may have forgotten, and to… remind us of who we are, or who we’re meant to be. These lessons are taught through the feelings of need for change, through burdens, through guilt or heartache, and through facing the consequences of one’s own actions.
One comes with an umbrella and one comes with a cane. One comes to protect us from our problems, and one comes to lead us through our problems.
Who might you want at this time in your life? Who might you need at this time of your life?
I have had Mary Poppins come into my life many times:
- When I was in need of physical rescuing, my grandparents were there to take me into their home. When I was in need of emotional rescuing, my husband was more than a helper for so many years…
- When I was severely depressed and my husband was over-worked, my in-laws would come in and do chores around the house.
I have had a Nanny McPhee come into my life many times:
- After I hated myself for years and despised everything about myself and couldn’t even look myself in the mirror, the Lord, with gentle intentions, invited me to give love a chance; I gave myself 5 minutes to see myself through His eyes, and I changed.
- After dealing with PTSD and spiraling emotionally, the Holy Spirit gave me peace through conviction, and the option to move forward despite the pain of my past.
Who do you need, right now, to knock on your door?
Even more so though,
who do you know, right now, that needs a knock on their door?
James 2:15-17 - New King James Version
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Mary Poppins and Nanny McPhee, as wonderful as they are, are not real. But… The Lord is real. He comforts, guides, blesses, and loves. He also convicts, fights for you, waits for you, and forgives you. He changes you.
Revelation 3:20 - New King James Version
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
On the other hand, people are real. You are real.
Jesus once communed with people who were considered evil back in the day. He sat and ate with them:
Mark 2:15-17 - New King James Version
15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
I urge you, be the one that blamelessly carries the umbrella. I also urge you, please be the one that lovingly carries the cane. Be gentle with both.
This world and the evils within it have terrible ways of bringing even the most upright to their knees. Help when you can, even in the littlest ways.
But most of all, pray.
Pray for the lives you can’t reach yourself, and when the time comes, follow your heart to help when you are able.
Philippians 4:6-7 - New King James Version
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
