Opening a Door

 

You've heard it said: "When God closes one door, he opens another one (or a window)." 

A door gives a sense of mystery, of the unknown, of opportunity, of stepping into something new and sometimes that holds some fear.  What will be on the other side? Hope? Excitement? Sunshine? or rain? Disaster? The Valley of the Shadow?  Take a deep breath, exhale slowly and open the door.

There's so much literature that talks about doors.  This one reminds me of The Secret Garden, a hidden door with lock and key, a garden dead and waiting for cultivation, love and new life, a place of rebirth, renewal, intrigue that also once held great sorrow.

  My son and I just finished reading the classic The Door in the Wall.  I get choked up at the end when the boy, having overcome much hardship and adversity, demonstrates extreme courage and gets honored for it and all his fears of failure, not being good enough because he's crippled, not being accepted as a worthy son get overwhelmingly met with such love, grace, appreciation and acknowledgement, that he begins seeing himself not as "that crippled boy who will never amount to much" but as someone who has a gift to contribute to the world and many talents.  And the faithful monk who has cared for him and taught him the importance of recognizing that there is always the door in the wall.  How many times do we just see the wall looming large and formidable, insurmountable in the face of our incapability, weakness or sense of unworthiness and then live there rather than finding our door in the wall, our opportunity to break through the barriers and walls around us and enter into a whole new dimension, a new understanding, a new path.  Robin had many doors in the walls of his loss and crippling disease - learning to read and write opened doors, learning to whittle, play instruments, walk with crutches, swim and gain upper body strength, shoot a bow and arrow, and learning to seek God and go to him all day, every day, in the coming and going - taking time to adore, pray and encounter God.  Each of these were doors that opened whole new worlds, possibilities and opportunities, pulling him out of being a victim of circumstance, learning to use or overcome his weaknesses as strengths: "when I am weak, then I am strong..." "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships and persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."  2 Cor. 12:10  

Without opportunities, difficulties, challenges and weaknesses, we might never discover or even think to look for that door in the wall.  When we encounter complacency, we trap ourselves within 4 walls of stagnancy, and when we go victim, the walls start closing in, our self-pity locking us in fear of what is, the unknown and the future, which keeps us from seeing the door in the wall.  And perhaps the very thing we fear, the pain that lead to the fear, the hardship breaking us, is God's invitation to walk through a door into something new.  He is so much about growing us and building our character deep and wide and loves us so much that He may gift us with a pain unbearable, a major health issue, a financial struggle or loss, a broken friendship, a weight that seems too heavy to carry, so that we might not be encumbered any longer by the limitations that once held us, that we might learn to be fear-overcomers, good stewards of our lives and finances, prayer warriors who don't give up, great men/women of faith who believe in a God capable of the impossible and willing to step into the impossible with Him.  

What if...we could see the waiting, the struggle and trial, the pain, the setbacks as opportunities, as hard but good gifts from a loving God who knows us better then we know ourselves and knows how to produce good in us, shift us, grow us in depth of character so we can bear the weight of the calling on our lives.

What if...He could give us beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning - turning our mourning into dancing and causing ALL THINGS to work together for good.

What if...we really could be anxious for nothing, thankful for all things and devoted to prayer because of RADICAL TRUST that He will always have a door in the wall for us to walk thru.