Christian Living

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LOOKING IN OUR WINDOWS
"When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, "He is good; His love endures forever" (2 Chron.7:3).

Goodness is the very essence of God's spirit. And love. Love is who He is. Mercy flows from Him like warm honey. He is willing to forgive and move on with us; carrying our broken spirits in His arms along His carefully designed path. His very character defies the evil we continually reach for.

There are just no coincidences with God. He is never surprised at our tearful and tentative footfall at the door to His throne room. Our suddenlies are the regular hang-your-hat variety of comfortable with God. We are always welcome Home.

We have all run from Him-we run because we know in our heart-of-hearts that our shameful choices are seen. We run because we think, like Jonah, that we can out-maneuver the consequences. We run in fear of His judgment.

"Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in His ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way" (Psalm 25:8-9).

When Scripture speaks of God's goodness, it is a gross understatement. How could we contain, in the small-box thinking of man, all that is Him? Goodness smiles in the face of denial. Goodness receives with open arms when rejected. Goodness desires the best for the very worst and then puts hope into action by presenting us with a Savior. Goodness simply is not containable.

Every single occurrence in our lives speaks of God's purpose. And, every single ugly, dirty secret we cherish, can be transformed with an uttered "Yes."

I once had a friend, a beautiful dancer, who moved with transcendant grace and always presented a perfect exterior. Her beauty was like a newly painted house though. Her interior, by her own report, was ugly and tormented. One evening after dance rehearsal, we were sitting in our small campus pub talking. She revealed to me that her biggest fear was that someone would look in her windows. I wondered at this as she lived on the fifth floor. She feared that someone would look in her windows-her eyes-and see the real her. Her biggest fear prevented her from close relationships with people and with God. No one ever got close enough to look in her windows because she committed suicide not long after graduation.

The point is this: Without God's mercy, a facet of His goodness, in loving us while we are still living deep IN the ugly, we remain mere shells. The exterior may look good but inside the dust bunnies and filth grow. God not only looks into our windows, He opens them right up and climbs through to get to work.

Goodness is a genuine and true characteristic of God. Dee Henderson wrote in one of her novels, "We have no relationships that come close to the relationship we are called on to have with God. With God, one side is perfect. The other side, our side, is clinging on by a prayer, asking "Forgive me; please let grace cover my sins!" We can hold that relationship only because He's reaching over and holding us up to His level, not because we can reach to His level."

And, mercifully, grace does cover our sins-our big, overfull, stinking buckets of ugly.

You know, there is this moment, this perfect slice of time carved out, where God pours and pours and pours into us. We can feel the cleansing and healing; feel the scabs of the past fall away, the sounds of pain become quiet, the spinning-out-of-control become righted and we are clay in His hands. At that moment, we know, we just know, that we are His. We have allowed Him entrance. No matter where you stand right now, this goodness is for you--open the windows!

c 10/01/2010 M. LaPointe

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