Opportunity Knocks

 

Doorways are a constant source of fascination for me;

especially if they are as characterful as this one.

Don't you just long to know what lies behind it?

The creeper curtaining the door suggests that it is 

not used all that frequently,

However you can never judge the importance of a door by 

how often it is used..

The front door of my uncle's farm was

 never opened when I was a child,

 and then one day some relatives I had never even heard of 

arrived to take tea

and the door I had imagined as permanently shut 

was opened to usher them in.

The moment I realised it was the main entrance to the house

the whole layout of the house made a lot more sense,

Until then I had only ever thought of the farmhouse

 as a large kitchen with bedrooms above.

The parlour door which,

 like the front door was newly opened for me on 

the day of "the visit",

was uncharted territory where a lacy tablecloth, thin china,

 and dainty cake,

were a world away from the scrub topped table, 

chunky crockery, and slab cake

of our everyday tea time.

In all honesty I loved the warmth and bustle of the kitchen,

and found the stiff primness of the best room,

for all it's pretty effects,

not to my liking at all.

Still, it was intriguing to have seen

 two new doors opened in one day, 

and I'm glad I got to see inside the parlour

even if it was only that one time.

(Children were not allowed the freedom then that they are now,

 and I would never have dared enter it without permission.)

It has mostly been my habit to go through as many new doors 

that offer themselves to me as I can.

Because I've never had a plan or any particular goal in life 

other than to do the best I can at whatever turns up,

I confess I've never plotted a path to any particular door,

and the ones which came my way have always been

 scary in one way or another:

(new things always are),

but I've always gone through.

Sometimes I've lingered just long enough to see 

what was on the other side wasn't for me,

but I've just had to explore the possibility first.

 Now I come to think of it there was one door

 I did plot to get to,

 and found really scary too,

even though it was my choice that took me there.

I was about nine or ten years old 

and decided I wanted to learn to play the piano

so I found a teacher,

 knocked on her door and asked the price of lessons

 before presenting my mother with all the details

and asking for the funds!

I loved those lessons,

but had to run the gauntlet of a vicious little terrier 

who used to sink his teeth into my music case
 and swing on it for the last few yards
of my journey to the door for every lesson.

I was always convinced one day it was going to be

 my leg that he latched on to,

but it never was.

Now here I am so many years later

still expecting more doors to open

and still finding there are.

Now I haven't got the time I previously did

 I have begun to look for doors that attract me.

Being a person who can live quite happily in my head

I have recently sought out active things.

A creative workshop attached to the theatre,

 and yes, a Zumba Gold class, 
because

 you are never too old to shake your booty!

( The class I go to doesn't have wall mirrors 

so we are not put off by seeing what we look like,

and it has high windows
 so nobody else can look in and get put off either.)

Each of these ventures has led on to other things

not to mention new friendships.

Oh, and we are exploring getting a piano 

so that I can begin to play again after all these years.

I wonder what new doors await you at the moment?

Are you expectant,

 actively looking,

 or have you given up I wonder?

One thing is for sure each new moment is new.

I forget who it was that said

"Man is not a fixed datum",

but it is a truly Christian viewpoint.

Is. 43:19  says,"Behold, I am doing a new thing ;

 now it springs forth, do you not 
perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."

Be Blessed