Doors

Doors                                          3-15-2013

By John W. Vander Velden

Throughout our lives we pass through doors.  In our youth we approach each with anticipation, at times so focused on the door ahead we fail to savor the place we find ourselves.  Not seeing the grand vistas of our present experiences in our rush toward future’s possibilities.  Then we press to the portal to new things, unknowing that once we slam that door behind, there can be no return.  And so life’s way takes us all, through doors.  Doors we open with great hopes…doors we approach with depredation.   Yet we open doors…with vigor…or with care, but with each we are changed…changed in ways unexpected.  Our growth requires we pass through many doors and each gives lessons that can be learned by no other means.  There are the doors that lead to new and wonderful times…new relationships…new honors…yet as we pass something remains behind.  Something sealed from us by the doors we have closed.  There are doors that we face…doors we wish to avoid…but cannot.  Times when that knob placed in our hands is difficult to turn.  Doors so heavy that they require all our strength.  Passing through that opening, wounds us deeply, and we question our survival.  Then all the naivety of youth is lost, and we understand that those left behind doors… are locked into our past and exist only in our memory.  Each and every door we have passed…those doors we gleefully race toward…those doors we approach with fear…those doors of joy…those doors of pain…are experiences and friends added which replace others locked behind. Yet each day we march forward to face new doors…new hopes…new adventures…we become greater by each door we open.  Friends, step boldly for your grandness is just beyond the door.

(296 Words)