September, 2025 – THE DOOR
Many years ago when we were building our home in Massachusetts, we needed to pick out every last thing that would go in and on that house. Everything from flooring, to countertops, to wood finishes, to hardware for cupboards, to the number of windows, to a cathedral ceiling (or not, and if so, how many feet should the beams be placed apart0, to a fireplace (or not) – to doors!
We had to decide whether we wanted solid wood doors or hollow doors in the living area including the bedrooms and bathrooms. I’m not the best at decision making, so it got overwhelming at times! The front door of one’s home, to me, is the most important door of the whole house. It can be welcoming – or it can be unwelcoming, cold, and even unfriendly. I put some thought into it. I certainly didn’t want a lot of glass with people being able to peer right into our lives, but I wanted a couple of windows at the top to allow light to come in.
So, I chose ‘The Door’! It had the two windows at the top, and linear markings below that reached nearly to the bottom of the door. I liked it. It was a good choice. However, after many years of wear and tear, we needed a new front door. I took myself back to a home supply store and was offered a huge book to look through to see what I would like to have this time. As I was looking, I came across the door I had originally chosen years before. What I didn’t know was that every door has a name. Huh? I mean, who cares. I would be happy just saying that I would take L453, please, arrange for someone to come hang it, and be on my way. But as I looked closer to the name of our original door, can you imagine my surprise – delight!! – to see that its name was ‘Cross and Open Bible’?! I couldn’t believe it! Had I known it at the time, I would have chosen that door based on its name, alone. Could it be that the Holy Spirit was leading in even what door would be on our home . . . ??
Now, that door would become even more significant a few years later. We all remember Y2K. How could we forget. We were led to believe that it could signify anything from a terribly hard time with no food (and other needs) available – to the end of the world. As that period of time was approaching, I ‘just happened’ to read an article on how the color of one’s front door presents itself (more than likely, subconsciously) to passersby. The article said that the most welcoming color for the front door was red.
My mind swirled as to how that might effect my thinking in wanting to, as always, help anyone I could – on any level. If times were going to be difficult during Y2K, then I would have wanted people to know that they would be welcome to stop by my house if they needed food, in particular. Are you ‘running ahead of me’? If this is what you are thinking, then you are perfectly correct. Yes! I ran out to a paint store and bought a can of red paint and a couple of paint brushes – and gave that door 3 coats of red paint. I prayed, “Please, Lord, if people are hungry, please let them see my red door. Please let it beckon to them that they are welcome to stop by my house for help. Please, Lord!” I never meant anything anymore in my entire life. As you can imagine, no one ever did stop by for help . . . But I didn’t know that was going to happen. I wanted to be ready – to be our Jesus’ eyes and heart, hands and feet. We can never forget that it’s the heart that the Lord sees. He so loves the willing heart!
Y2K came and went. Little to no ‘suffering’ was garnished from the world-wide scare. So, as you might now imagine, after waiting a more than appropriate amount of time to make sure the world wasn’t going to be obliterated, and that we were fine, I made another trip back to the paint store to get my original blue color. I really did love the ‘red’ against my stained brown house, but decided that I liked so much more the ‘blue’ door that I had seen on a ‘saltbox’ some years before I had married.
So, The Door! I finish this writing with THE DOOR. Metaphorically speaking, the Apostle John described Jesus as the ‘door’ to salvation. John 10.7 – “So Jesus said to them again, “Truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”” In 10:9 – “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved . . . “ And in Matthew 7.7, Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” He is the singular access to the Heavenly Father – and all that the Father has to offer us. There is only one means of entry into eternal life with our Creator, Savior and Sustainer. I loved my red door. I still love my blue door. But I LOVE – and am in love with THE DOOR!