Locked Out of the House

What is happening to me? I’m normally such an organised person, but not this day. I plan my day off so that I make it as fruitful as possible. Are you like that?

Ok, so after my shower in the morning I’ll put on the washing while I’m having breakfast so that I’m not wasting time. By the time I have washed the few plates or cups I have used the washing machine is finished and I can hang it out. Then in the afternoon after more chores, grocery shopping, running errands, it will be dry, and I can bring it all back in to fold and put away.

It was not always like this. I often had to wash before work and then bring it in after work before getting dinner ready for the hungry five kids and Bruce. Only if I got to it that night did I do the folding. Often it sat in a basket for days. I’m sure many of you would know what that is like.

Anyway, I had just sat down, after doing housework, to have another cup of coffee early afternoon and maybe a bite to eat when my daughter’s dog started barking ferociously. She is living with us and has a poodle crossed with a papillon. He, Winston, thinks he owns the place. Anyone who walks across the front of the property (not even inside the boundary) he barks and tells them who’s in charge.

I went to see what he was barking at. The postman was delivering some parcels. They seemed very big from what I could see so I asked him to just put them at the flywire door. Winston has never attacked anyone, he is only small, but he tries to tell you who’s boss, and I’ve never felt it fair on the delivery drivers if I let this little black ball of barking run towards them.

It happened to be a very windy day that day which I thought was good because: 1. It dried my washing quickly and; 2. I often left the back flywire door and the front flywire door open to get in a lovely breeze, which cooled the house down.

I turned to Winston to tell him, okay I know there is someone there, you can stop barking now. He sat and looked at me. For me he is very obedient. “Stay,” I said.

Opening the locked flywire screen I grappled with the awkward long parcel, addressed to my daughter, and I started to drag it into the house. All of a sudden, a huge gust of wind blew shut the front wooden door in front of me. I put down the parcel and pushed it against the flywire door that had been leaning on me and gripped the front door handle. It would not budge.

I pushed and pulled and prodded and poked. It was not moving. The door was locked.

The door had only locked us in a week ago and Bruce had to pull apart the mechanism to fix what the problem was. Oh no it happened again!

I forgot to tell you – I was still in my Pyjamas!

There I was outside the front door of the house in my boxers and t-shirt with no phone to ring anyone, no keys to get in and both doors, back and front, fully locked. Often on my day off ,I don’t have a shower till after doing all the chores that can make you so sweaty – it is summer here right now.

And Winston was yapping and sniffing on the other side of the door.

What was I to do?

I could not stay here for four hours, in the hot sun, waiting for a member of the family to come home and rescue me. The only solution was to go and visit one of the neighbours to ask if I could borrow their phone and ring for help. So off across the road I trudged. Leaving behind all the parcels on the porch and a yapping dog inside.

Peter, who I had met only once but often nodded or acknowledged to him or his wife out in the garden as I left for work in the morning, answered the door. He has stilted English. After I explained to him what had happened, he looked at me strangely, half closed the door and called out into the house.

His Son now came to the door and I explained everything again to him. He said ‘oh’ and walked away but came back a few minutes later with a home phone, unlocked their flywire door, opened it enough for the phone to fit through, then locked the door again on me.

I had to smile. Who would believe my story anyway?

A mad woman still in her Pjs early afternoon making up a story to rob them!

As I put my attention to the phone, I realised I only knew my husband’s mobile phone number. All my children’s numbers were in my favorites under their names. I never had to memorise them.

Oh dear!

Bruce is often so busy or filming that he does not answer his phone straight away. After three attempts over a period of fifteen minutes, Bruce finally answered.

Hallelujah!

I called out to Peter that I had finished with his phone and again he slowly unlocked the door and took the phone back. He truly did not recognize me as his neighbour across the road. Probably because he had not seen me in my Pjs before. I thanked him profusely and walked back to my house waiting for Bruce to come and unlock for me.

As I waited and looked at the offending door, I thought about the saying from the Sound of Music actually.

“If God closes a door, he will open a window.”  The window was my kind next-door neighbour.

When Jesus had died, his disciples scared and fearful of their lives, hid behind closed doors. But what did Jesus do? He appeared to them, showed them He was risen and stated, “Peace be with you.”

He did not yet fling wide the closed door. This did not happen till six weeks later at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent with His courage and all His gifts to them praying and waiting in the upper room.

So maybe Jesus will come to you behind the “Seemed” closed door of your life, of your career, of your getting pregnant, of your speaking again to your ostracised children……. And reveal himself and state “Peace be with you.” “Have courage. I will send help, so you no longer need to live behind that closed door.”

I learned a lot that day. I’ve reached the age of “past embarrassment.”

I’m trusting in the Lord more for my life with my closed doors but I’m also getting a spare set of keys cut to hide outside, so it does not happen again.

Where do you need to trust in the Lord for your “closed doors”?

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups. If you would like more information please click HERE.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Have you ever had a day where something awkward and unexpected happened?

What ‘closed door’ areas of your life do you need to trust God? Where could you ask God for peace and for some help?

When someone reaches out to you for help how could you share care to them?