Our doorbell wasn’t working.

It hadn’t been for about two months, but I just hadn’t figured out how to get it fixed (which involved calling my dad…). When you pressed the button it made a low humming sound, but nothing near loud enough to be heard over the dull roar of family life at our house. Especially when three teenage girls were spending the night.

One girl’s moms stopped over to drop something off for her, but we couldn’t hear the doorbell for obvious hyper, high-pitched reasons. She had stood on the porch for ten minutes, hearing the chaos, but unable to get our attention. She called when she got back home and said it wasn’t a problem–she’d just come over again in the morning, but I felt really badly.

I told Lindsay, “Quick! Go make a sign that says our doorbell isn’t working, so this doesn’t happen again.”

I don’t often use the front door, so several days later, I was surprised when my husband had me go read the message posted there. It read, “Our door bell isn’t working. Come on in!”

I was especially glad that we had taken this note down before the next morning, when three painters showed up at our front door, ready to get to work, while I was still in the shower!

I wouldn’t recommend having no doorbell on your home or on your heart. People need to be able to get to you when they need you. Nor would I recommend having a sign posted in either place, which says, “Come on in!”

Proverbs 4:23 says,