WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES IN LIFE, ANOTHER DOOR WILL OPEN

Helen Keller the famous American writer once said, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”

This quote could not be more true in my life, and I’m sure many others. As I’ve had time to reflect upon my life these past days, I’m happy to see where I’ve been, yet I am more happy to see where I am going. In the past, I used to always focus on what didn’t happen in my life, what should have been, or what could have been, thus leaving me discouraged. A lot of us, like me before, put so much of our focus everyday on pass failures. It could be failures in our relationships, our decisions, our career choices, or mistakes we have made which are we are not able to fix. Even though we know that we can’t change the past, we still dwell on it, letting it plague us like a virus that never leaves our mind and emotions. But, if we always focus on the past doors that have closed, we will become blind to the open doors and opportunities that may come our way.

In the past, I used to get so down on myself about every thing that didn’t go my way. I would ask God why? I would throw fits and rages when life didn’t turn out the way I thought it should have. Or, I would become depressed and go into bouts of self-pity, self-rejection and self-hatred. Being an over achiever I would become extremely critical of myself if I felt like I was the cause of my failures. Yet, now that I am older and I can look back at a lot of my earlier mistakes as a young adolescent, I can see how every mistake, every disappointment and failure has led me to become a better man.

With time we become wiser. With time we learn to learn from our mistakes. With time we can see things in retrospect and appreciate every experience, good or bad, for what it is. With time, we can begin to appreciate ourselves. With time we realize there is no use holding on to old remorse’s and thoughts of “I wish I could have, or would have, done things this way or that way.” Instead, we can make the choice now to not repeat our past failures, recognize we are not the same person, and be open to change. We have to let go of what we can’t control and stop focusing on the past closed doors. If we do this, we can become aware of the present blessings in our lives that we may have been missing all along and walk through a new door of happiness.

Until we let go of the old thing we are holding onto, we cannot be hands free to receive the new thing God desires to bless us with. MOVE ON! I felt like I had to say that loud and clear to whoever is reading this column… MOVE ON from the past and into the new. Don’t let your past mistakes, regrets or disappointments hold you back from experiencing the fullness of life and all the goodness it can bring! I’m excited about my future, I feel like I’m maturing as a man and I know that what is in store for me in the coming days can only be even better than what I have experienced before. Not because the past was bad, but because right now I am wiser, more ready and in touch with whom I really am to receive God’s very best! Unless, we choose to move forward from past closed doors, we won’t know what is on the other side of the new doors that await us. I’m nervous, a bit afraid, but full of faith and heart wide open to experience the new, so should you!

God bless,
James Boehm