Do You Know When to Close Doors and When to Open Them?
Sometimes it feels like a never-ending transition from one struggle to another. Other times, there aren’t any arising problems or drama; it’s just moving from one season, degree plan, job, or city to another. I know from experience the feeling a dichotomy like living in more than once place or maintaining friendships in multiple social circles can bring. The phrase, “being spread too thin” feels too real when planting roots in a new season while still holding on to old ties. While rose-colored lenses can make this look like: “Multiple homes! So many friends! So many places to go!” be wary of these ties that bind becoming knotted.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with the open hearted, wide-eyed desire to gain all, see all and be all. This can be a beautiful attribute but one can benefit from putting into practice the act of closing doors. It is true that what you do on a small scale renders itself onto a larger one. I have found the nightly pre-bedtime exercise of mentally closing various doors from the day to be extremely beneficial to bringing rest and preparing oneself for the next day. Close the door on the little things like a bad day at the office. Continue to work on visually closing the door on a larger struggle like the tumultuous end to a relationship or loss of something dear to you. When we allow those passages to shut we open ourselves up to new experiences. I’m going to reiterate this life-giving truth: When we actively allow passages to shut we open ourselves up to the possibility of new experiences.
We can be thankful to the encounters we live and the people, places and seasons we learn from. In fact, it is by being grateful to even the sourest of struggles that we open ourselves to the possibility of better seasons, more enriching relationships, and empowered readiness for what we permit to come next.
