Why The Door Stays Closed

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

—Luke 10:41–42

Men, in my experience, don’t have the kind of shame about their homes that many women do. Aaron will invite someone into our house and not even notice the cereal-and-milk smears on the table, the socks on the floor, the crumbs on the counter. Meanwhile, I consider lying to the people in our foyer about a gas leak or something, anything to get them back on to the porch so I can sprint around with baby wipes in one hand and a laundry basket in the other.

This is why the door stays closed for so many of us, literally and figuratively. One friend promises she’ll start having people over after they remodel. Another says she’d be too nervous that people wouldn’t eat the food she made, so she never makes the invitation.

But it isn’t about perfection or performance. You’ll miss the richest moments in life—the sacred moments when we feel God’s grace and presence through the faces and hands of the people we love—if you’re too scared or too ashamed to open the door.