When God closes a door...

Those of you who have watched Sound of Music as many times as I have, may remember the scene where Maria is sent away from the convent to work as a governess for the Von Trapp family. Maria is reluctant to leave, but the Reverend Mother gives her the following advice, “When God closes a door, he opens a window.”

A while back I had a door slam in my face. How strange! The door was open just a minute ago! I looked around in bewilderment, shocked and confused. I tested the door. It was locked. I fumbled around in the dark. I could see no window.

I tend to analyze things until I’m blue in the face. Thinking things to death is pointless. I’m not saying you shouldn’t think about things, or weigh the consequences of one’s actions, but thinking too much can easily tip the scale and result in worry. Jesus said in Matthew 6:27, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” The King James Version puts it this way: “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” Wisely put.

Thinking or worrying about whether you walked through a wrong door, or if a door closed too quickly is fruitless. You open some doors, you close some doors. And some doors are closed for you, as has been my case on several occasions. But as Lady Macbeth said, “What’s done is done and cannot be undone.” Maybe there is a reason why dwell contains the word “well”. If you dwell on things too long, you risk sinking into the bottom of a well, metaphorically speaking of course. And who wants to dwell in a well?

I think that some doors are closed for our own good. We all like sheep have gone astray, wandering through a door we never should have entered in the first place. It may have been a pretty door. Maybe all your friends walked through the door before you. Perhaps somebody "begged" you to come inside. You could have been carried over the threshold or dragged by your hair for all I know. Name the shape, size or form and there’s a door to fit that description. Some doors might even have a sign that says “Do not enter!” However, when push comes to shove, the decision to enter is ultimately our own. But God’s grace is new every morning!

After frantically looking for my window of opportunity (that God supposedly always opens), and several rounds of how the door closed, why it closed, and what if it hadn’t closed, I started to glimpse a soft green light. An exit sign! When God closes a door, he may not always open a window, but He’ll provide you with an emergency exit instead.