Thursday, April 24th, 2008
so I stay near the door
by Sam Shoemaker
I stay near the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world -
It is the door through which people walk when they find God.
Theree’s no use my going way inside, and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind people,
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they still never find it…
So I stay near the door.
The most tremendour thing in the world
Is for people to find that door – the door to God.
The most important thing anyone can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands,
And to put it on the latch – the latch that only clicks
And opens to the person’s own touch.
People die outside that door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter -
Die for the want of what is within their grasp.
They live, on the other side of it – live because they have found it.
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him…
So I stay near the door.