Doors

As we walk through life we come upon many doors.  Some doors are open and some are closed.  Some doors may appear open, but are actually locked up tight, and there are some doors that you won't know about until you walk up and attempt to turn the knob. 

I remember when I was younger my sister had some friends over for a bonfire.  There were food and drinks inside, resulting in a lot of people walking in and out of the house.  Our front door has a glass "screen" door on the outside which my mom must have just washed, because one of my sisters friends was not paying attention and ran right into it!  She thought the door was open.

The lesson from this story is not necessarily that she should have been paying more attention, but that she tried anyway.  After she hit the door, she realized that it was closed...  So she turned the door handle and walked inside.  If she had been paying more attention, maybe she would not have been sure if the door was open or not and in an attempt to save herself the embarrassment of running into the door she might have decided that she would just stay outside and not go get some popcorn and lemonade.  

I feel like this is the view that we take a lot in life.  We know what is on the other side of the door oftentimes, but are too afraid of the potential embarrassment to check the status of the door.  What I have come to find is that there is not shame in checking to see if a door is open.  Even running head first into a locked door is better than avoiding the door altogether.  

There are times when we think that a door is open and we can see through the doorway a little bit and it turns out that our perspective was off and what we saw was the glint of the sun off of a newly installed lock.  These doors are utterly discouraging.  In these situations it is probably best to try a different door and maybe check back every once in a while.  The purpose of a lock is not only to keep a door closed, but to also be able to open a door again.  

Sometimes we are afraid of the doors.  Not because we are afraid of what is on the other side of the door, but because we know that we can't take anybody through the door with us.  These doors tend to interfere with plans and to change lives.  The difficulty is weighing the positives and negatives of walking through the door.  It comes down to perspective.  For myself, if I don't at least try the door, I will always question if I made the right decision.

So what doors are you eyeing?  

Whatever it is, I would suggest giving the handle a shake. 

See what happens.

Some of the best advice that I have been given is simply to take the opportunities I am given.  Open that door.