I Stand by the Door

I stand by 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. There'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 never find it ... So I stand by the door.
The most tremendous thing in the world is for people to find that door—the door to God. The most important thing any person can do is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands, and 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 want of what is within their grasp. They live, on the other side of it—live because they have not found it. Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it, and open it, and walk in, and find Him ... So I stand by the door.
Go in, great saints, go all the way in— go way down into the cavernous cellars, and way up into the spacious attics— It is a vast roomy house, this house where God is. Go into the deepest of hidden casements, of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood. Some must inhabit those inner rooms. And know the depths and heights of God, and call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is. Sometimes I take a deeper look in, sometimes venture in a little farther; but my place seems closer to the opening ... So I stand by the door.

To read the rest of this great poem go to
http://www.thejaywalker.com/pages/shoemaker.html