Front Porch Chat

  
 
Did you ever sit out on the front porch as a child?  All was quiet, it was late at night, Mom would bring out a pizza to enjoy with me while Dad and the 5 boys were out.  We were never finished our pizza before they arrive back but we would just keep swinging out on the front porch.  Mom and I had great chats out there.  It seems so long ago – it is one of the treasures in my memory box.
 
Recently I was having trouble praying.  I would see myself in this great room, a Royal room, which is fitting as a place to talk with the Ruler of the Universe.  God seemed so far across the room, the ceilings so high, so many people kneeling there with their requests.  Was He listening to me?  It felt so awkward here, so intimidating.
 
I am learning to be honest with God, honest in my conversations.  So I just said this wasn’t a comfortable place for us to talk.  His reply was “well where would you be comfortable talking to me”?  Where is the place I feel safe, where I would feel close to Abba, a place where chatting would be easy? 
 
The front porch.  The soft cushioned old swing that I would sit on in the shelter of the big front porch.  From here I could watch the rainstorms as the thunder seemed to break the sound barrier and the lightening made day out of night for a split second, and the raindrops drew the curtain  on  the view of town.  It was a place where I could wrap a blanket around me, open a good book and in the cool autumn air disappear into the world of Nurse Nancy or Sherlock Holmes.  In the hot muggy Ontario summers I could sit out at night and watch the fireflies.  Here I could be anybody and do anything, and imagine I was the most beautiful girl that some handsome man was madly in love with.  
 
Yes, Abba and I are now meeting on the front porch to chat.  I come and sit down at His right side, He takes my hand and we start to talk. He seems to be there everytime I need to chat.  The other day He wanted to know what was REALLY on my heart and mind.  When I told Him I was worried –the immediate reply was “why are you fretting?”  I keep forgetting that those hands already hold everything about my life, all my questions, all my needs and all my heart desires.  He sits on the front porch holding my life and holding me.  I am safe here on the front porch.
 
Each of us need a place to sit and be comfy with God.  A place where we have no need to wear any masks or hide anything from that searching gaze.   And I don’t want to hide anything.
 
Lord I give You permission to search my heart, search my mind, search all of me.  Open every unused room,  open every corner.  Let me LIVE, really live and always come to join You on the front porch. Show me and then lead me – step by step.
 
Where is your “front porch”?