For two years I’d been drooling over the shower displays at a larger hardware store up the road. After all, who doesn’t wanna “save big money!”
Drawn to one in particular, each time I entered, I’d walk over to it in hopes of opening the glass door. It never opened. I thought it unusual that a display model would not open, but in hopes of it doing just that, I’d try and try again pushing it this way and that. It did not budge.
This brings me to the a conclusion I erroneously made. I thought, in my wisdom, that the reason the door didn’t open was because they didn’t want people messing with their doors and wearing them out right there in the store. I thought the black latches upon it were locking the unit into place so people, like me, could admire it but not necessarily try it out at the expense of those saving me all that money — big money — mind you.
One day, we decided that we could no longer delay our purchase and whether or not that door would open, I wanted it. I figured if I ordered it, it would open. Right? I mean, if one pays for it — it should work.
Just when I was placing my order and dragging the salesman over to show him the desired door to complete the project, a little boy dashed up, opened the glass shower door by swinging it wide and just as quickly closed it! The door I’d been admiring for so long was a hinged door that needed to be pulled open and not slid to the side! Immediately, I understood that which I hadn’t.
Now, I bet you are wondering if I made the big purchase and saved big money. Well, as much as I’m still dreaming about having that door swing as it did within my house, a completely different door was chosen based on the suggestion of the specialist — of which I am apparently not.
And if you are anything like me, after having made the purchase, you call several friends to gather their opinions in hopes of reinforcing the decision made. You then rethink it, and rework it in your mind for several more days before realizing that each and every bit of advice given was worth considering and you now wonder if you even made the right choice.
Yet, I am thankful. I am thankful for choices we have a plenty in this land of plenty. I am thankful for friends who give input and who know how much they are deeply treasured. And, I am thankful for little children who show me how to open doors. Last but not least, I am thankful for a husband who, upon receiving the invoice and seeing how much big money I saved him, was simply relieved a choice had been made.
Matthew 18:3 says, “Truly I tell you, unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 19:14 is another passage worth pondering. “Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”
No doubt He wasn’t talking about shower doors. Yet, there is a link here from which we can learn. Children teach us much. Most of the time, they jump right in and do without hesitation of the price to be paid such as maybe getting it wrong, or getting dirty. They are active participants.
They trust that which as they poke and prod with delight at that which is before them.
The child opened the door while I didn’t even stop to ask because I figured it wasn’t openable.
I suppose that brings us to the final verse for today from Luke 11:9. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
May we, like little children, continue to ask, knock, seek and pull open doors He places before us — so that others might walk on through. Amen.
Kathleen Kjolhaug lives on the family homestead in northern Minnesota. She and her husband, Pete, have 12 grandchildren. As a retired reading specialist, she now enjoys writing, taking walks along gravel roads and praying attention through connection with those who matter most—each of you. She’s recently authored a 33 Day Devotional, “Wading into the Deep,” a tool intended to connect the sacred with those who matter most in each of your lives. Kathleen may be contacted via email: wemenews@gmail.com
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