Ego

A man reached mid life and while things on the surface seemed alright he felt deep inside that something was amiss. He read some books and talked with other men and one asked about his relationship with God. He knew when he was growing up he was close to God but over the years he sort of drifted away. This must be it he thought, so he set up plan and he likened it to redoing his house. He went home and tossed out all of his furniture, installed new flooring and painted all the walls. Then he went outside and put on new siding, windows and roofing. He installed a large new front door, opened it up and said, OK God, I'm ready, come on in. Then he waited. A week, a month, many months and nothing happened. He couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then one day while he was standing by the front door his eyes wandered across the room and settled on the door leading to the basement. He was mysteriously drawn to the door. He opened it and stepped inside and standing on the platform in the dark he felt the angers that he'd carried inside move away like smoke in the wind. He next worked his way down to the basement floor where he stopped long enough to let his inner fears float away into the darkness. As he stood there he looked across at the door leading to the coal bin. Cautiously he moved toward the door and opened it and stepped inside. There he came face to face with all of his hidden hurts. All the little disappointments that he just stuffed and they were released into dark. Then he noticed a hole in the floor near the far wall and went over. He got down on his knees and worked his way in. He got on his belly and inched his way deeper into the opening. He was now down with all the slimy worms and bugs and just in front he saw a large rock and written in the moss was the word shame. He knew then that if he overturned that rock all of his past and present shames would be exposed. He said a silent prayer, reached out and turned it over. He immediately found himself back in the basement where walls were bright, shiny and newly painted. He went up the step and into the living room and across to the big front door. He opened the door,stood there in silence and then realized that God doesn't come in through the front door of your ego but through the backdoor of your shame.