The Closed Door

I live across the street from a small post office that’s off the beaten path.

Like most government buildings, it is closed on holidays and weekends. On such days, a ‘CLOSED’ sign is posted on the glass doors as big as day.

Sometimes, I’ll step out on the balcony just to get some fresh air or observe people in their natural habitat.

Like a classic film, I will always find something watchable. The life actors are already in their scenes with their lines and motivations memorized to perfection.

They don’t even know that they are performing on the stage of life.

Human beings never cease to amaze me. We are so intricately entwined in our thoughts sometimes that I don’t know how some of us get from point A to point B.

The other day the post office was closed for the Martin Luther King holiday. I saw a few people drive into the empty lot of the post office. They would get out of their car and saunter to the front door.

When it didn’t open, they would try to push the door open and then pull on the handle. Remember there is a huge sign that reads, ‘CLOSED.’

One man even started knocking on the door and yelling,

“Hello? Open the door. Hello, anybody there? I need stamps.”

He must have thought that he was giving his order at a drive-thru.

He banged on the door again and looked inside the door as if someone was hiding in there.

He reluctantly walked away ten minutes, totally bewildered and looking back every few seconds as if someone was going to open the door and say, “Surprise!”

Though the sign was in full view, he never saw it, not once. Often the signs are right in front of us and we still can’t see them. They can be as plain as day.

The signs are not relegated to pieces of paper on doors. They can be in a message; something someone says out of the blue that makes us stand back, something in a newspaper, advertisement, television, etc.

They are signs from the universe and they are tangible.

The message that we need to see or hear is often in front of us. Anyway we look at it, no matter how hard we push a closed door it won't open.

No matter how strong our desire is to open the door, it is closed. No matter how alluring the other side is, it is closed.

It is closed for a reason. We are not meant to go inside. Even if somehow we get the door open, it still may slam shut. That is a sign. There is nothing there for us anymore.

It is time for our next experience. Time to move on. Time to open another door. Another chapter. Don’t deny yourself your true destiny to walk through as many open doors as possible.