Life Through Double Doors

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What is it about double doors?  They possess no magical powers. Most are made of solid wood, others maybe of aluminum or even glass. But a few I’ve noticed, throughout our lives seem to represent a rite of passage as we move from one stage of life into another.  It is as if life’s most significant moments must first pass through double doors.

The first set of double doors in my memory was of a light colored wood with long slender windows near the centers. These doors were part of my introduction to faith. They were the doors to my first church as a young child.

Even the elementary school bus had double doors. We rode one of these every morning for about a hundred years.  What always fascinated me about these doors was one door swung one way; the other swung the opposite way.  What can I say? I was easily entertained!

The next set of doors was the entrance into my days of junior high and high school.  They were of a very heavy metal, which took some effort to open, closely representative of the struggles which tend to accompany the teen years. 

A few years later I found myself arm in arm with my dad standing behind double doors made of dark wood that swung open toward the church sanctuary decorated with flowers, bows and candles.  We were awaiting the sound of the “Bridal March”.  I noticed he had tears in his eyes. 

Only a couple years afterward I would find myself moving very quickly through another set of doors. These were very large, very cold, aluminum double doors as nurses rushed me into the delivery room for the birth of our first-born.  We enjoyed this so much; we did it two more times.

There would be more encounters with double doors throughout the years; some we walked boldly through, others we felt as if we crawled through.  With each experience however, came a clearer understanding, sharper awareness, deeper wisdom and knowledge, unspeakable joy, and sometimes a great deal of heartache—the true test of unconditional love.

Maybe it is a silly observation, but for whatever reason, they have become embedded into my memory. Perhaps it is simply to be a reminder of where I have been and where I am going.  To borrow the saying of a pastor I heard years ago, “I’m not where I need to be, but praise God I’m not where I used to be.” 

God is faithful at every stage of our life and apportions to us what He desires, as we are able to handle it. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 says, “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”

Father God, I thank you that You are faithful to complete in us that which You have started.  I thank you that even when we act in disobedience, as Your children, You still watch over us; even arranging the doors of our lives in such a manner as to bring us back to You. Forgive me for the times when I have failed to be faithful, Father. I realize now that faithfulness is the fruit of your Spirit at work in my life. May others see Your faithfulness revealed  in me, in Jesus' name, Amen.