We had been on holiday in Queenstown. Barby had to come back early to go to work. I stayed on for a couple more days with our daughter, Alyssa, and her family. When I did fly back, Barby had the car and so the easiest thing for me was to get an Uber home—and so that is what I did.
This is what greeted me at the front door. It is a brand new doormat.
I know doormats are designed for wiping my feet and so I was a bit surprised when this one had me wiping my eyes as well. I’ve been asking myself “Why did this happen?” ever since.
A few responses…
It is the way Barby is with me. Yep, this is where it started as I stood at our front door last Thursday. “Yay! It’s You” is the way she has been with me for 42 years and counting. I am so grateful.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that there is even more going on.
It is the way God is with us. Currently, I am working on a message from 1 Peter 1.1-2—”chosen according to the foreknowledge of God”—and the way God was thinking of us and loving on us even before we were created. Then, when we finally arrived, he exclaimed, “Yay! It’s You”.
It is the way we are to be with visitors. Afterall, the doormat sits at the front door of our home. The basic idea is that “Yay! It’s You” captures the warmth and enthusiasm in our welcome to all who pop by. I confess that it is not always so. The doormat moves me to be better, to do better.
It is the way we are to be at church. Yes, it is true. It had been three days, but I was still being distracted by a doormat as we gathered for worship yesterday. My imagination wandered. What about placing one for our feet at every entrance—and then matching it with a “Yay! Its You” in our faces and our voices, towards each one who enters in?
It is the way we are to be with migrants. Barby has returned for her umpteenth year at the Refugee Resettlement Center. Migrants of all kinds are huge in the progress of the story of the world, as this book explains so convincingly. “Yay! It’s You” is exactly what refugees, especially, have not heard for a long time, if ever. Let’s proclaim it to them here in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
It is the way the world is to be with displaced peoples. I had been contemplating writing a blog about this doormat for a couple of days—but it was this piece on the BBC website overnight that pushed me over the edge. Trump is talking about ‘clearing out’ Gaza, when what needs to happen is for billboards to be placed at every crossing and at every entrance way into Gaza, conveying the same message each time. Do you have any idea what that message might be? Well done. You guessed right. “Yay! It’s You—and here, let us help you make it home again.”
Ahhh, now I see more clearly why a doormat had me wiping my eyes and not just my feet. There is so much going on. And it’s not just me. Barby, too. And then when I showed the photo to my granddaughter, Amaliya, she shed a little tear with me as well.
Now, it’s your turn.
nice chatting
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
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Yay it’s you coming to preach at Cambridge Baptist on Feb 16th! And Yay it’s you working on a message from 1 Peter 1:1-2 that we’re looking forward to hearing! 🙂
That’s wonderful – thanks for sharing 🙂
Cheers Paul. Hands down one of the most challenging blogs (why is it that the most simple is the hardest?) I can yay our refugees easy and church members. But when some people (staff and students) at work arrive at my office door, my immediate reaction is ‘quick-where can I hide’. Yay in the workplace, hmm…..
😍👍🏼🙌🏼
A delight to hear back from you—Ken and Heather and Hannah and Riad—and I am glad it proved to be a helpful post.
And Hannah, I can’t add it into this comments section (but I did post it on FB)—but one friend in the UK went looking for the doormat online and she sent me a photo of the only one she could find: “Oh No! Not You Again” … which sounds a bit more like your workplace reaction (which we can all feel, can’t we?)
Paul
Thank you, dear Paul. Mh heart swelled by the Yay, it’s you! I needed that today especially. Annette
May God bless you real good, Annette
Also—as I understand it, this doormat is available at The Warehouse in New Zealand and Australia.