Let My Love Open the Door

Back when I was a teenager the song, "Let My Love Open the Door" by Pete Townshend was pretty popular. I actually loved the song and it's music video.
In case you don't know the song-some of the words to the song are as follows:

When everything feels all over
  Let my love open the door, ooh When everybody seems unkind
I'll give you a four leaf clover
  Let my love open the door, ooh Take all the worry out of your mind

Let my love open the door, ooh
To your heart
Let my love open the door, ooh
Let my love open the door, ooh
Let my love open the door, ooh

I have the only key to your heart
I can stop you falling apart
Try today, you'll find this way
Come on and give me a chance to say

refrain

When tragedy befalls you
  Let my love open the door, ooh Don't let it drag you down
Love can cure your problems
  Let my love open the door, ooh You're so lucky I'm around

During that same time I had a best friend-Marla. Golly, I don't even know where to begin or how to describe how amazing our friendship was. We met when we were three years old, knew each other throughout grammar school, but it wasn't until eighth grade when we became the very best friends in the world.

She was the opposite of me in many ways, but we loved each other so much. We hung out with each other all the time-I mean allll the time. I'll list a couple of examples:
-I slept at her house so much that her dad, which I called "dad," asked me right out, "Hey El, when are you going to start paying rent?" and then laughed. (She slept at my house too-although I'm not too sure if she ever slept at my house as much as I was at hers).
- We went babysitting with each other-isn't that funny? If I had a babysitting job the parents I worked for knew that Marla would be with me and vice versa.
- We even got a job working at Waldbaums together. (A store I think you can only find in N.Y.)
- I transferred to her high school for my junior and senior year.
-We even crashed each other's "family" vacations.

We were never a part-that is, if we could help it.

So getting back to the song. One day I was hanging out with Marla and singing it, but instead of saying, "Let My Love Open the Door"  I said, "Let Mar-la open the door... to your heart."  and for years that's just how I sang it. She was everything to me. I have more stories of her stored up in my heart then I think I would ever have time to get down on pen and paper or blog ;)

It was her constant love and devotion to me that truly saw me through some of my darkest hours.  Her kindness, understanding, humor, acceptance and quite frankly, just putting up with hundreds of my pranks that saw me through and gave me hope that my life could be worth something some day.

Once, she gave me a "key" to put on my key chain- she had the locket on hers. -as strongly as I loved her-when I got that little key I knew she loved me right back. (I still have the key). 

Years passed-she went off to Boston College. I stayed in Flushing, Queens. I grew so depressed without her. I shut down. Our friendship barely survived. I gave up. She didn't.

During our time a part I was very lost- and that is how, I guess, it has to be in order to be found. Jesus found me. I couldn't imagine anyone ever taking her place in my heart. She seemed to fill it perfectly, but Jesus is the only one who can truly do that.

More years pass-many more years-around fifteen, when I was driving along with the kids in the car, I put in my husband's Audio Adrenaline cd. We were listening to it when all of a sudden the song, "Let My Love Open the Door" came on. I couldn't believe it. What were they doing singing a secular song? I listened to the words again and they were singing it as if God was singing it to us. How neat is that?  This one song -this same song that reinforced Marla's love for me and brought me hope is now being used by God in much the same way.

I will always remember Marla when I sing that song, but now I receive it as God asking me to open my heart to Him.

  "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me." Revelation 3:20

(By the way, Marla and I are still dear friends. She still lives in Boston and I'm here. Distance doesn't really matter between best friends. We pick up where we left off, remember the old times, and laugh. Love you moo and happy _ _st birthday-9/24!!!!!).