Choosing the right door

Life is a series of swinging doors--opening and closing doors. The doors we open and close are of equal importance because we must close our previous one before we can open another. If we leave the open door, ajar, we can't walk through the closed one -- the one we're fearfully wanting to attempt. The two will clash and we will come to a standstill because one can't wholeheartedly, focus on his present endeavor while he's holding on to the former one. Our entrances and exits determine what we become and where we're going and on whether we're happy or whether we're dissatisfied.

As I watched a western movie, recently, my attention was drawn to the saloon door, a prop that seems to play a central role in most western movies. It was a beautiful door, flaunting its backwoods stains of shiny rich medium brown. I was mesmerized by how smoothly and effortless those doors swung back and forth on their hinges. Some people went inside through those doors and others, mostly men, walked out them. Some of those that entered, came out drunk and ill-tempered, and others came out through those doors smiling, with a purpose in mind. What was found inside was worthwhile for some and unsuccessful for others. My mind pulled me aside, and I began to think and ponder how our lives could be seen through evidencing what one might find behind a door he's chosen.

We experience many kinds of happenings in our life. We begin searching for doors to open as soon as we're able to perceive how life works. We want to be a tradesman, a homemaker, a doctor or scientist, or we want to fill another role. As we mature, the empty room of a self, not yet seasoned, desires to experience life and make his own decisions. We have to choose which doors we want to open--or accept, from others, their opening the door for us. Whether our direction is in establishing and keeping good relations with another, picking the right career for, or merely outlining a plan for our lives. Inside ourselves, we attempt to draw a map leading us to satisfication and fulfillment.

So how do we know which door to open? Hopefully it's a door to prosperity, spiritual awareness and a desire to help make the world a better place. If what we choose doesn't work out--a relationship fails, our job runs array, or we lose our home, we can begin into feel depressed, like a failure, dissatisfied and miserable.

Everyone experiences those dejected feelings, sometime. When those doors close and we don't know which direction in which to go, what do we do? We certainly don't want to give up and quit, because there will be another door waiting for us to open. The wonderful thing is that our hall in life is filled with doors, leading us toward or away from a destination. Think of set-backs as opportunities for growth. Ask yourself what you have learned from the negative or positive occurrence. We see, when we momentarily look back, that the bad encounter was a blessing. A lover's leaving us can be heartbreaking, but believe it or not, that too can turn out to be a gift, even though we didn't believe it, at the time. We have our own freewill that God has given us, so it's our decision into which door we choose to open or close. Alexander Graham Bell said, "When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." We can all learn from Graham's quote. We need to remember that doors keep on swinging to open opportunities to us, or close others that are obsolete--bringing joy or unhappiness. We can choose to enter in and see what's valuable there for us, or we can turn around and go back outside the door, without trying. Often out of fear, we lack the motivation and energy to open the right door or close the one that's uncomfortable but familiar. It's never too late to choose the right door.