Open Doors / Closed Doors

Let's talk about doors. Oh, not the doors that separate your garage from your kitchen, but doors those come into your life unexpectedly. And once they're closed, they're closed. You can storm and plead and sob and call to no avail. They separate you from home and from loved ones; they force you to make radical adjustments, to leave your secure comfort zone; they cause pain and confusion, depression and doubt.

As you're cooking supper you hear a siren a couple of blocks over. If you stop and think about it, someone out there has just had a door opened . . . or closed. You glance at the obituary column in the paper . . . doors have been closed.There's the list of graduating seniors, and your son's name is there. You're so proud of him! Yes, doors to the future have been opened, but doors have been closed, too. There's going to be a vacant room at your house now and life will be different. There are four aspects to these "life-changing" doors:

1. They are COMMON to all of us. None of us are immune. Every one of you could write a story...
2. They are PERSONAL. Your experiences are unique to you. Never are all points equal, though they may be similar. And it doesn't help to hear the old Indian adage about "walking in someone else's moccasins for two weeks" . . . or two years for that matter.
3. They are INTENSE. There are different levels of intensity, some more severe than others, but what is labeled as "intense" for you could well be where someone else walks every day. Does that make it any less intense for you? No. Pain is relative.
4. They all open for us a CAPACITY for growth, for when a door closes, you CHOOSE the direction you will take.

We can't escape them. They will come. And when they do, we have one hope . . . only one. We must KNOW Him. We must be so confident of our relationship with Him that nothing will shake it. We must trust Him.