Guests

The other evening, my husband and myself were out doing errands, enjoying the evening without interruptions from our children/grandchild.  We were in the beginning stages of Christmas shopping and we were almost nearing the end of our shopping when my phone started buzzing.  I had it on silent, but it stilled buzzed to notify me of an up and coming message.

My daughter texted me stating they had an emergency and we needed to hurry home.  Her message was simple "HELP, EMERGENCY!  IT'S REALLY BIG".  Her message was followed by a picture of a lizard on our ceiling.  You could barely see the little critter so I had to zoom in on the picture to really identify what it was that was "REALLY BIG".  Once I got my reading glasses out and zoomed in on the picture, I was able to identify that the critter indeed was a lizard.  

The lizard was just under 5 inches long, nothing I would call "BIG" and it was very unassuming, non-threatening, as it was located on our 10 foot ceiling, in the entry way.  It was not bothering anyone in the home, it wasn't in the family room or their bedrooms, kitchen or other place of gathering.  It was just on the ceiling, sitting, watching and waiting for the front door to open so it could resume its' life outside.  

The emergency had my husband and myself laughing and most certainly, when we arrived home they were screaming and stating we had better kill it quick because they were not going to sleep until the lizard was dead.  Again, we continued to laugh which fueled their anger and made them very nervous.  

I got my ladder and dust mop, climbed and tried to get my little outdoor friend to jump off the ceiling.   In a quick motion of my mop, the lizard flew quicker than my eyes could follow.  I had no clue where he went.  The screaming from my children began again.  They were scrambling and yelling stating "hurry, kill him'.  

My husband came to my rescue and we found him in the dining room, again resting, and probably wondering why there was so much commotion. I was able to get him on the end of the pole of my mop and swiftly moved outdoors and placed him in a bed of rocks.  

This morning at church, I was reminded, once again, of my little lizard friend when our priest spoke about guests using the front door or the back door of our home.  He mentioned "when the door bell rings, do you look and see who is there, pretend you are not at home, or answer the door and politely put the guests in the 'nice' part of your house, as a waiting zone, until they state their business and leave OR do your guest come through the back door, walk in unassuming, help themselves in the disorderly chaos of your home, feeling very welcomed?  Our priest related this message to our relationship to Jesus.  Is Jesus the uninvited guest at the front door of your home or is he the back door friend who appears regularly at your home? 

I walked away from church today and thought heavily on my relationship with Jesus. I also thought about the lizard.  God must not only be in our lives constantly, but we must always welcome Him in our moments of chaos, inviting him in constantly through prayer.    

For now though, I believe Mr. lizard will only be a front door guest in my home. He will be escorted out once he states his business.