“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

 Carter has this new thing he does when he wakes up in the middle of the night. He walks through the house, stands in the hallway that enters into our bedroom, and calls, “I’m here! It’s me!” If one of us doesn’t answer, he keeps calling until we wake up enough to invite him into our room to join us in bed. Once he has the okay, he sails right up in the middle and roots out a spot that looks like it was left just for him.

In the wee hours of this morning, I heard that little voice, “I’m here! It’s me!” I invited him in and he climbed over David. “Mama. It’s too little. I can’t fit!” So we shuffled around until he had enough room to spread out and get comfortable.

When I woke up the next morning, my first thought was of Jesus standing in the hallway of my heart beckoning to me, “I’m here! It’s me!” It wasn’t a feeling of a one-time invitation at salvation, but of a regular occurrence. Every day, in every situation, Jesus is waiting for the invitation to join us.

But it’s more than just an invitation to come in, he wants to climb back into His rightful place in the middle of our lives, but for some reason His spot keeps getting smaller and smaller as we move more and more stuff into the way. Fear, worry, control, unforgiveness, excuses, heartaches, habits, addictions, faithless works- all of these begin creeping in until the spot that used to be the “rooted-out-just-for-Jesus-spot” that’s right in the middle of our lives gets swallowed up by the “bed-hog” of self!

  Every time I hear my son’s sweet little voice, “I’m here! It’s me!” I can’t help but smile. And I keep seeing a mental picture in my mind of Jesus doing the same thing every day; standing, waiting, and calling out to me, “I’m here! It’s me!” May His spot remain open and ready, not cluttered with selfish junk I’ve left in the way.