A Door

“MOM!!!, We’ve got a visitor that wants a new home,“  declared my oldest.

At first I thought “oh no, no more critters in this house.”  But low and behold, a small bird had found it’s way into my chimney.   

Naturally, I immediately channeled Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins, grabbed my gear (i.e., a sheet and trash bag), and broke out in song “Chim Chim Cher-ee.”  Seemed fitting at the time.

We crouched on the hearth, lifted the flue, assessed the situation, and devised a plan. I’d hold the flue open, my oldest would grab the bird, then we’d gently release it back outside where we were confident it preferred to live the rest of its days instead of a dark chimney covered in soot. (Oh, and we decided he’d wear plastic grocery bags as gloves since we’re so handy that we don’t own a pair of gloves.)

We began.

It took a few minutes to get the bird to stop fluttering away from the opening, but finally, with a brief, frantic flapping of its wings, out it plopped – right onto the floor at our feet. It was a young dove.

Poor thing looked absolutely stunned. It didn’t move, but its eyes were darting around the room as I’m sure it wondered, “How in the world did that dark place land me here?!”

But he didn’t have to adjust long. We released him back outside and that was that.

Later, for some reason, the bird incident got me thinking about a common phrase in Christianity that has confused me for a very long time. And it has lots of variations…see if you recognize this:

“God opened the door…”

“God closed the door…”

“When God closes a door…”

“I’m asking God to either close or open a door so I know what to do…”

(Or my favorite) “When God closes a door he always opens a ____________.” (The possibilities are endless.)

I must confess I’ve used these kinds of phrases many, many times. But I’m not sure why. For some reason we as Christians always nod in agreement and understanding when someone says these things, but to be quite honest, I have no idea what it actually means.

It’s not in our Scriptures. No one in the historical church is ever recorded using it. In fact, I imagine it’s only become common in the last fifty years or so (like MOST American Christian traditions.)

Yet, it’s used so often, one would think it was a mantra used by Christ himself.

But he didn’t.

In fact, the only thing Jesus said about doors was that HE was the door (John 10:6-10)…to rest…to healing…to life.

As I look back on my own life history (that’s actually quite short), it seems if I have any experience with God opening or closing doors, it’s been more like the bird I helped rescue than anything else. I’ll be flying along in life, doing just fine, then all of a sudden…

Darkness.

Soot.

Fear.

Stuck.

Eventually light appears again, I plop into a place I’ve never been before, and I wonder, “How in the world did that dark place land me here?!”

Now, it would be easy to immediately turn that event into the metaphor, “When God closes a door, he opens a flue,” but there’s no need.

God is not our holy doorman. 

God is our way maker. (Just ask Abraham, Moses, Esther, Jesus, Paul, and others…)

I once heard that “Grace is not a tightrope. It’s an open field where you run until you find the fences.” I’ve tripped a lot. I’ve fallen into many dark places, just like the dove we rescued.

But so far the only fences I’ve come across on my journey are the ones I or someone else has tried to construct.

I’ve stopped waiting for doors to open, I’ve ever stopped trying to find the fences, but I’ll never stop seeking after, and learning to follow the Way.

—–

“We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God… Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour…” //J.R.R. Tolkien