Influence

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It has been a long while since I have posted anything here. I have been busy completing three years toward my B.A. in English and my senior year is underway. My current class (Creative Writing) has finally given me the space to take off the tight harness of academic writing rules, and it feels SO GOOD!! After reading my first assignment, Mom and Daddy gave it their thumbs up and suggested I make it a blog post, so here it is. It is my story and their story. It's a little longer than my usual posts, but as with everything I have ever posted here, I pray it encourages you to run "up the sunbeam to the sun" (C. S. Lewis). "Follow my example,  as I follow the example of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1 NIV I sat above them on the stairs. Looking down through the window-like openings in the partition between the living room and the stairway, I listened to the basketball players, football players, baseball players, wrestlers, track athletes, both the lettermen

Daddy Painted the Doors Red

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Up and down the neatly laid out streets of our little Iowa town were big old wonderful houses that stood stately and dignified  where they'd stood for decades.

Almost all of them were white.

Ours was white too, until . . .

Daddy painted the front door bright red!

What did people think, I wonder?  These tried and true traditional Iowans--what did they make of the young basketball coach and his strange door-painting ideas!?  Didn't he know the rules?  Was he a rebel?  Red wasn't even one of the school colors!  What did it mean???

To him it meant "pizzazz!"  After all it was his favorite color!!  It was vivid and bright and positive--all things that he is.  The red door was his way of making it OUR house, distinct and memorable.  Painting the door red was the smile he put on our house to match the one he always wears!

I was 5 and I was delighted!  How deliciously scandalous it felt to have that flashy red door on our big white house!  It was outside the box, made from a different mold, marching to a different drummer.  It was NOT normal!  To me the red door meant extraordinary!

I had to reach up high to hold his hand, and I didn't know that I had only begun to glimpse the extraordinariness of my daddy and the life he knew how to live.  He still does!  Never confined by the pressure to be conventional, he has broken free over and over again to express the passion that lives in his heart for God and for people.

Don't let me be conventional Lord!

There are many voices in the church telling people how to worship, how not to worship, that you can't do anything that draws attention to yourself or smacks of performance value, it must be 'this way' and no other.

Be a white house with a white door. It's not about you!  Don't stand out, blend in, conform, fade into the background.  This may not be the intention, but with endless repetition the message is loud and clear.  Our young people hear it, not as a call to live for God instead of themselves, but to live quiet, shrink down, don't dance or yell or shake the world!  The problem is, God made us as unique and different as snowflakes wherein He says out loud that He wants to express Himself through us in multi-facets!  No, it's not about me or a prideful grab for attention for myself, but it takes all of us, in enthusiastic uniqueness, to display His immense personality. Even then we'll only begin to scratch the surface!

I don't want to break rules for the sake of breaking them, but never let me shrink from breaking the ones that get in His way!  Jesus broke lots of rules right in the middle of living perfectly for His Father.  He healed on the Sabbath, He asked a Samaritan woman for a drink on His way to saving her soul, He touched lepers and dead people so He could restore them to health and life!

God, let me burst forth in expressions of who You made me to be, let me be the door You paint bright red, the smile You put on the little corner of the world where I live for You!  Never let me be burdened with words like ordinary and normal, should and shouldn't. Instead release my passion for You in ways that sparkle and brighten up every life You allow me to touch!

I would rather offend some with my door-painted-red
than to profane God's great Name by failing to be extraordinary!

"For we are God’s masterpiece.
He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,
so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
1800 miles,
an entire country away
and 40 years later,
Daddy still paints his door red!

What are the red doors in your life?
Do you have any white doors of conformity that desperately need a coat of red paint?
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I'm joining Ann Voskamp's Gratitude Community for her Multitude Monday.
I hope you will join in if you haven't already!

holy experience


#101-115
101. Looking back and seeing how far we've come
102. Knowing You don't give up on me
103. Old songs written by a shepherd-king who followed hard after Your heart and expressed what's in mine
104. You always come through just in time, even when I think You're late
105. Courage words from unmet Christian sisters who join me in the faith walk
106. Late night talk with Drummer Boy after his night out with friends
107. Hero Husband's laugh
108. The oh-so-familiar sights and sounds of a high school football game and seeing it all again through She-So-Sweet's starry eyes
109. The rodeo mom I've yet to meet in person sharing books she loves with me!
110. Long overdue catching-up conversation with Mama-in-love
111. The way they love weekend breakfasts
112. New knowledge of old history that explains. . . and warns . . . and guides my now
113. Being needed
114. Being wanted
115. Hero Husband's midday call to say, "You are enough!"

Comments

  1. Aww, I'm lovin' your daddy! He and I share a favorite color and a love of red doors!

    I too, wish to live an extraordinary life for my God and not be afraid to be what He has called me to be. To live out loud for Him.
    Giving thanks with you for the endless gifts!

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  2. It is one of the endless gifts that He gives us the opportunity to be extraordinary--so glad you're in this with me!

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  3. love #101. was thinking the same thing the other night. Listening to someone sing Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) made me weep like a babe for the same reason you have listed here.

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  4. We too love week-end breakfast! Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Love this! May we all have the courage to live boldly for our Jesus!

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  6. Shaunie Friday @ Up the SunbeamDecember 17, 2010 at 6:56 AM

    So glad you enjoyed this Melissa! Thank you for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete
  7. what a wonderful metaphor. yes and yes, we are made uniquely in the image of God to reflect his glory in varied, colorful ways. the Body mustn't fall into the trap of sameness and monotony--especially as we serve the Creator of the universe!

    thanks for linking:)

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