Behind Closed Doors

My wife and I were on vacation last week and traveled to several unique locations. Since we live in a very small house, whenever we go on vacation we like to rent really big houses and invite friends and family to join us. So our vacation last week included a large lake view home in Zephyr Cove at South Lake Tahoe and a mountain top home on an oak covered ridge in the wine country of Sonoma.

Both houses were totally awesome but part of the fun is finding out what lies behind that front door when you finally arrive at your vacation destination. Sure there are photos on line, but the exciting part for us is when we open the front door for the first time, step inside and explore our new (albeit temporary) home. You never really know what you are going to find and obviously you won’t know if you never open that door… and isn’t that a basic principal of life? If you’re afraid to open the next door, take the next step, start the next chapter in your life, you just might miss out on a really great adventure!

Thinking about opening a “closed door” reminds me of the story in the bible about the two Mary’s who went to visit Jesus’s tomb. When they got there the huge rock blocking the entrance was moved and the tomb was open. They didn’t know that the rock would be moved so I am not sure what they planned to do when they got there, but they still went anyway. Even more interesting is that the rock was moved at all. Jesus didn’t need the rock to be moved. Jesus could come and go as he pleased. So I think the reason the rock was moved was so that both Mary Magdalene and Mary (the mother of James) could see that Jesus was gone. It was moved so that through that “open door” they could see for the first time ever, that a true miracle had occurred, a truly everlasting resurrection. Had they not had the courage to go, despite there being a “closed door”, the world would not be the same today.

In our everyday lives we face a lot of “closed doors” and every time we do, we have to decide whether or not we have the courage to open them. So if you’re wondering whether you should open that new door in your life and worrying about it, stop worrying. The surest way to escape anxiety and defeat despair is action and when we commit to action, the stress becomes manageable, and even better… sometimes we get to see things we never thought possible!

The incredible beauty of Zephyr Cove at South Lake Tahoe

Action is the antidote to despair.

~ Joan Baez