God, replace my stony heart
with a heart that’s kind and tender.
All my coldness and fear
to your grace I now surrender.“Spirit, open my heart” – Ruth Duck
Today I’d like to share a little ongoing restoration news. Nothing spectacular, but I really like this weekend’s addition of a traditional front door bell.
Up until now it has been very much hit or miss for people coming to our house. They knock but we seldom hear. Visitors have to call, or send a text: “I’m standing at your front door!”
Usually I’m in the kitchen. But I have failed to hear visitors from as close as the living room.
So we did some research, decided against something electric, and Rebekah ordered an authentic mechanical ringer that, other than being a little stiff, has turned out to be exactly what we wanted. It is period appropriate to the house and, I think, pretty cool.
But here’s the thing. Rebekah and I closed on this house March 24 and we moved in around the middle of April. That’s like seven months of not hearing people at the front door before we installed any kind of a system! It would be easy to think we didn’t want visitors.
Fact is, most people tend to walk away if you don’t answer the door. Opening the door, and coming inside, comes with permission.
I don’t know why but I was thinking about this during one of the hymns at church Sunday morning. The words go like this:
Spirit, open my heart
to the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love,
in receiving and in giving.
Spirit, open my heart.
God, replace my stony heart
with a heart that’s kind and tender.
All my coldness and fear
to your grace I now surrender
- Spirit, open my heart... (words by Ruth Duck)
We all ask God to open our hearts – at least in the singing we do – yet still set things up so we cannot even hear when the Spirit is knocking at the door. Sometimes it’s just not paying attention, but it can also be because we have a stony heart. We keep the door closed and we cultivate “All my coldness and fear.”
But we need to surrender. To ask God to “Replace my stony heart.”
In surrender comes healing. And that is the real interest Jesus has for us. Not control, not imposition – but healing.
Lord knows, we all need it – DEREK
That brings back a memory from a home we owned in Romeo, Michigan. The kitchen door had a bell just like the one you installed. Our kids thought it was great to go out the door to the enclosed back porch and turn the bell/ringer. It took awhile for us to understand why there was a bell on that door, eventually realizing that would have been the back door originally. The porch was a later addition to the home. Enjoy your bell!
That’s a great memory!