The Doorkeeper

(This is Friday which means it's Elephant Day! Every Friday, I take one of the many elephants in my collection and write about it, the memories I have about it, the inspiration it might give me for daily living.  So here's another elephant--which serves as a metaphor for my spiritual life!)

 I recently converted our daughter’s bedroom into a sewing room.  It’s been 6 years since she’s gone of to college, and she is living her own life now.  When creating quilts, there is a lot of ironing that must be done.  I use the iron and ironing board more with pressing out seams than I ever did after doing laundry.  Therefore, I decided to move the ironing board from our laundry downstairs to my new haven upstairs, the sewing room.  This particular ironing board does not stand alone.  Instead it hangs on the back or front of a door and swings down when needed.  There was a problem with this, though.  Whenever I ironed, the door would swing back and forth according to my arm motions.  This was could be dangerous! 

Then I remembered I had the perfect solution.  An elephant!  Yes! One of the elephants in my collection, given to me by my mother (she gave many of them to me) was a doorstop! But it was sitting in front of our dining room door.  A door we never use so it is perpetually open. Because there was no need to "hold that door open", my elephant doorstop wasn’t really serving its intended purpose.  However, the dining room was as good a place as any to put it for people to see.  But now, it is serving true purpose.  Being very heavy--nearly 20 pounds--it’s perfect for keeping the sewing room door from swinging dangerously back and forth while ironing.  It also adds a whimsical touch to my sewing room, which is home to all of my stuffed elephants. Because of this elephant’s purpose I call it my “doorkeeper”.

 

Jesus said, "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." (John 10:9) (ESV)  He also said,  “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  John 14:6  (NIV)

I love the image of Christ being an open door through which I can daily walk to receive a more abundant life.  And as a Christian, I believe that I can be and am called to be a doorkeeper to that Door.  I can hold that door open for someone else who wants (or needs) to see Christ.  I can do it in a number of ways: By being available to someone in pain (I’ve not done this very well in my lifetime); By holding someone in prayer which can keep the “door open” for that person’s healing and comfort; by maintaining communication with my two Compassion children; by acting in loving ways toward my husband and others in my family.  The list goes on I’m sure.  I do hope that writing on this blog is holding the door open to Christ for whomever reads it. 

 

As Christians, we often talk about and pray for “open doors” – new opportunities for spiritual growth, new pathways in our lives.  But maybe we should be praying that God might help us be doorkeepers – keeping Christ (the Door!) open, available to those around us. 

What are the ways you can be Christ's doorkeeper?