Monday, December 17, 2012

Doors

Very recently I had a sweet conversation with my oldest son about doors. I was able to share some advice with him that I received from my father when I was about Luke's age.

If you are a fan of the musical 'Sound of Music', then you might remember a line in the movie when Maria is told that when one door closes, another one opens. I honestly didn't pick that line out of the movie as one to remember, but my own dad did. It must have had an impact on him, because he remembered it enough to share about it with me. Ever since, it has been meaningful to me. It has stayed with me, and now I have had the opportunity to pass it along to my own child.

It really is very true... When God closes one door, He always opens another. As I grow older and become more wise, I can see how there have been many doors opened, closed, and opened throughout my life time. He continues to show me new doors even still. In the not so distant past, I would become frightened at the sight of a new door. I would feel the wind of the old and familiar door abruptly slamming. Then I would see the sight of something new before me and I would literally start to shake in my boots. Walking through the threshold was too much.

Today I feel more at peace. I don't know what lies ahead. I know what I desire to lie ahead, but I don't know if my desires are the same as His desires. At this moment, I'm okay with that though. As I talked to Luke, I shared with him that God always knows our desires and He wants to fulfill them. Sometimes that requires shutting doors though. Sometimes it means big scary unknowns in front of us. In the midst of our discussion, It felt like I was learning right along with my son.

Sometimes my best learning takes place as I teach my children. This was undoubtedly one of those times. Dad, if you read this... Thanks for the advice. It has stuck with me all of these years. Now I'm passing it along.... And I'm continuing to learn from it.