close the door

A wise counselor once said to me

that the ability to close some doors,

never to open them again,

is one of the principal signs of maturity.

Robert P. Maloney

I was in the EC when the fire alarm went off.  An annoying siren blared and doors slammed.  It immediately raised my anxiety but none of the medical staff even raised an eyebrow.  Soon it was over and I was paged to the ICU.  A simple trip.  Down a long hall, around a corner, another hall, an elevator, another corner, another hall.  I've done it 1000 times.  But this time everything looked completely different.  The fire doors, tripped by the alarm, were shut every 20 feet.  This made my simple trek a long, arduous and confusing one.  But had there really been a fire, these shut doors would have saved our lives.  

Lately, a number of my conversations have centered around the need to close some doors. From Stuart and Robin and Joe, three people who do not know each other, yet gave the same advice in their own unique and thoughtful words.  And then there was this quote from Open the Door.

There is a time to open and a time to close the door.  If we are going to fly freely and step deeply into our soul in order to live with greater consciousness, certain doors have to be closed.  When we stand on the threshold, we will be there forever until we make a decision to either go forward or turn around and go back.

Alright!  Alarm sounded. Doors shut.  Freedom beckons....

For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Romans 6:4 NLT