The Door

“Sometimes when you push open one door, you find another door.”

That’s something a friend said to me recently. It was meant in a positive way – about the discovery of the unexpected. About pushing into new territory, imagining what you will find there. And then, instead of what you expected – you discover a whole new world of possibility. You thought you were headed one place with a decision made. That door opens and you realize that you are at the beginning of a new journey, instead of having arrived at a destination.

Fall is just a few weeks away now, and is always filled with new doorways. We arrive, finally, at the next grade, or college, or we step into a new job or find ourselves suddenly the parent of a high school kid, or stepping into a new life as an empty nester. We greet each of these things with both excitement and worry, and sometimes there is a lot of anxiety in pushing open that door. It seems like such a big deal. It helps me if I can remember it’s just one step of the journey…. the way to the next door.

I’ve had a quote hanging in my house since college. “Of magic doors, there is this; You do not see them even as you are passing through.” I don’t know why this has always spoken to me, other than to say it reminds me of the sense of wonder I’ve felt after stepping through all those doors of Fall.

Holy One, guide us on our journey, and help us greet the changing seasons and each new doorway you bring us to with wonder and joy. Amen

“I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it…” – Revelations 3:8

Diana is a founding member of Peace Church, and has made it through a lot of darn doors at this point in her life - and still feels wonder when passing through them.