Wave Good-bye

One of those pleasant features on so many homes that make them appealing to approach from the curb and even more appealing to contemplate as your own home is the porch. Front, back, or side, it makes little difference, a house with a porch is more likely to be designated by the soothing little word “home.” Comfy, inviting, made to live in. These are the messages sent by a porch.

Your porch is a place of transitions. It is on the way somewhere else. Even when you are headed to the porch to read a chapter from your latest book purchase or rest a spell or drink leisurely a morning cup of coffee, you won’t end up staying there – you just pass through.

Sometimes we land on the porch spiritually. We are coming or going, but it’s no place to live indefinitely. You can’t get the mail all day. You won’t wave good-bye Monday from 8 AM to noon. Slippin’ muddy boots off doesn’t require an afternoon, even with the spring we’ve had. Not meant to be that way and won’t work in connection with the rest of life.

Are you stuck on the porch? Making a switch, but still caught up in the alterations? It happens sometimes, and not just to you – other people have experienced this one, too. It’s like you have one foot on the sidewalk and one in the front room. When observed awkwardly, uncomfortably stretched out like this, someone might astutely ply, “Entering or exiting?”

Here is a prayer for each of us, provided for us on those occasions when we have become deck dwellers. “God, I’m missing out here. Move me into what is next. Even though I’m frightened, You are not. Even though I am uncertain, You are serenely calm. Even if I’m not ready, You are. Get me over this - please! I am ready for whatever You say is my next assignment.”

Tim Gramly
Education Pastor
SHBC
May 5, 2009