The Door Open to Me
Several years ago, a friend, somewhat older than myself, was relating to me his experience as a scholarship athlete on the collegiate level. He was a cross-country runner. In high school, he excelled at all sports, but he was not very tall. He said of college, “I wanted to play basketball, but I had to take the door that was open to me.” In the years since, I have come to understand how that realization bears on all our lives.
We cannot control all influences and eventualities. None of us chose our place of birth, gender or family. We were handed a set of tools and given a task. To our dismay, many of us did not have a complete set, and the ones we had were worn. There was nothing to do but get to work and do the best we could with what we had. We might have chosen differently, but no choice was offered. We took the door that was open.
The road of life is dangerous. You never know where the road will take you once you set out. It is thrilling, confounding and confusing at once. It is interesting to me to read the stories of people who set out to end at an unforeseen destination. Many of these tales are uplifting but not all. We never really know when a visit to one locale may be our last. Same goes for phone calls, dinner invitations and visits with friends.
Life is a journey in which we make momentous decisions based on the doors open to us. We cannot do otherwise. Often, we do not realize the import of our choices until much later. This would seem cruel except for the will of God. If we really believe that our lives are in His hands, we understand that each of us has a purpose in His cause. A great part of what comes our way was chosen for us- by Him.
Paul referred to an open door that revealed both opportunities and obstacles. The same is true of our hopes, dreams and plans. There are foes for us to face on the way to fulfillment. God designed it that way. There is land to be possessed and fleshly desires to be conquered. All this can be achieved through the power of God in the personal life. Our struggles are similar but never the same. You never know what you’re going to get.
It’s easy to bemoan the failure of good intentions. I’m an expert. Sometimes, I think of folks who have done well and wonder if they were more, greater or better than me. The accompanying thought, though, is that I know many that were indeed more, greater and better that did not do as well as me. Everything really is in God’s hands. We must take the doors open to us, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Sterl
« Go back