It’s up to you…

Is It Just ME, or do you, too, feel as though things are sometimes beyond your control?

Recently, I had the pleasure of being in an audience to hear a great slant on this feeling – this belief. It happened to have been a religious service, but the metaphor is quite ecumenical and certainly applicable to life beyond any religious affiliation.

“The door to “hell”, he said, “is locked from the inside”. 

Brilliant, I thought.  The visual was at first very compelling, then practical.

Let’s agree to define “hell” as anything with an overwhelming sense of doom, negativity, helplessness.  Hell can be anything from momentary, to temporary, or go as far as total desperation, which, even if truly just momentary, can feel endless.

OK!  We get “hell” (I guess we can give it from time to time, as well!!)

The lesson here is that, sadly, we often put ourselves in this condition called hell and sadly, may chose to remain there!  Putting it in that context sounds less than intelligent, I know, but…think about it….this makes sense.

We all know someone (just one, if you’re lucky) who dwells in, or worse, creates their own hell: always focusing on what makes them a victim in life, one who is destined to be helpless, hopeless.

We also know someone (just one, if you’re blessed) who, regardless of all the challenges thrown in their direction, make everyone around them feel better just for knowing them.  They never focus on all that’s going wrong, all that would seem to give them the right to complain about.  They are never the victim.

WHY?

 Because they chose to live that way!  They refuse to be locked behind that door or made the decision to release themselves from it.  The good news is that the door opens the moment we decide to unlock it for ourselves.

Conversely, the learned preacher went on to describe a rather familiar depiction of Jesus knocking on a door.  I knew the picture right away.  What I never noticed was that the door has no doorknob!

Here’s why….

Let’s agree that Jesus can represent nothing but goodness, positivity, opportunity.  HOPE.

We are probably all familiar with the phrase…”opportunity is knocking”.  I’ve heard a version that states “opportunity knocks once”.

I choose to see it this way…there I always opportunity, hope, good things happening in the world.  It’s always knocking – but (no doorknob!), you have to let it in…again, YOUR CHOICE. 

May I suggest this?  Make good choices – you really do have more control than you may realize.  As women, we are expected to make good choices that affect our families, those in our workplace, and in our communities.  THE WORLD NEEDS WOMEN TO MAKE GOOD CHOICES – AND WE CAN, WE DO!

Let yourself out of whatever negativity you may be locking yourself inside of.

Listen for the knock of positivity, of opportunity; good things just waiting for you to accept them in your life.

So is it just ME, or do you, too, get it; we own the key to both doors!

                          

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Open the door and find out!