God loves each and every one of us, yet this love is many times hard to understand. He wants to be with us, not just when we are enjoying good times and good things, but also when we are down, especially when we are down. In times of crisis in our lives God is with us. When we are out of a job, or suffering an illness, or facing a divorce, or having trouble with a spouse, a parent, a child, or another relative or friend, God is with us. In these difficult times it is sometimes hard to recognize that God is near, because we are so hurt or sad or worried. The hurt, sadness, or worry takes over our lives, and we can think of nothing else. Yet, we merely have to stop and to remember God; we merely have to respond to his knocking on the door of our heart.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the    door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Rev 3:21

In a famous painting of Christ, the artist has Jesus knocking at a solid closed wooden door that is in a stone building waiting patiently for the person inside to open it. What is interesting about the painting is that there is no knob on Jesus’ side of the door. He cannot open it. He merely knocks and waits. Should we open the door, then He is there to greet us and to comfort us.

After His crucifixion when the Apostles were in hiding frightened thinking that the authorities would be coming next for them, Christ appeared to them. His first words to them were, “Peace be unto you!” He did not chastise them for abandoning him. He did not remind them that He had told them that He would die and rise in three days. He did not say, “I told you so.” He comforted them. He gave them His peace.

Christ comes to us all the time. He is near us all the time. We merely have to recognize that reality and turn our hurts, snubs, and worries over to him. “Come to me all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” “Take my yoke for it is light.”

We all know Christ’s promises, and yet we fail to take Him at His word. Why? What are the impediments keeping us from His Love and Grace?

Perhaps, the most obvious is our ego. We think we can handle things on our own. More than that, we are constantly reminded in advertisements and television shows, radio talk shows, and the web that we should be in charge of our lives and always look out for number one. If we think we can do everything then we do not need God. To ask God for His assistance requires our acknowledging we cannot do it alone, but to obtain this acknowledgement we need to humble ourselves. Humbleness is not a prized commodity in our world, so it is difficult to know how to be humble. Something we must learn. Think of it this way: Is the difficulty I am facing sent by God to humble me? By trying to deal with the difficulty ourselves we refuse to turn to God.

Another impediment derives from our egos, and that is our hurts, grudges, and feuds. How many of us are at odds with someone? Or, go out or our way to avoid someone? Or, remember a slight or a snub? Or, do not speak to someone? Remembering hurts, grudges, and feuds requires a great deal of energy on our part and can lead to high blood pressure, headaches, and other medical problems. We do not have peace within us as we are constantly keeping the grudge alive. It festers within us, many times making us angry as we recall with total justification how our pride was hurt by the other person. And, we cannot let go of these hurts and snubs for we are justified in thinking them. Our lives are defined by these hurts and grudges. We become the hurt.

Another impediment to our answering Christ’s knocking at the door of our hearts is our worries. We worry about our children, or our jobs, or the direction in which our country is going, and we stew about it. But, ask yourself does worry ever solve any problem? Not really. Action solves problems, but there are some problems that defy resolution. What is that famous Serenity prayer of Reinhold Neibuhr

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next. Amen.

The Orthodox Church provides a number of “tools” to deal with life including repentance, forgiveness, and confession.

As Niebuhr understoos: I trust that God will make all things right if only I surrender to His will. St. Paul said it best in reminding the Galatians (Gal 5:13-26) that hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath and the like are works of the flesh, and that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. St. Paul goes on to say that those who belong to Christ have crucified their passions and desires of the flesh, and are now open to God’s love and thus ready to possess the fruit of the Spirit.

The most difficult lesson we need to learn as followers of Christ is that we are not in charge, not in control – Christ is! To achieve this state of learning requires humility, and if we are to obtain humility we must forgive others their trespasses. Forgiveness is the fruit of humbleness. Moreover, if we have offended someone, then we need to repent and to ask his or her forgiveness.

Instead of nursing each slight or offense, let us begin to think of them as opportunities to ask God to intervene. One cannot obtain peace unless one abandons grudges and hurts.