SLIGHTLY LATER
THAN ANTICIPATED!
If you're anything over 30 years of age, chances are at one time or another, you've muttered the phrase, "If I had a dime for every time I ____________, I'd be a millionaire." Ok, so what fills in your blank? I, Myself, have a list of blanks that could have made me a multimillionaire years ago. If I had a dime for every time I've misplaced my wallet; if I had a dime for every time I've left the lights on in the car; if I had a dime for all the single socks that have lined the bottom of my sock drawer. Does anyone else's "single socks" breed uncontrollably, like rabbits on steroids? But, by far my biggest blank is, "If I had a dime for every time I've misplaced my keys . . ." Seems to me I could have written a few books, completed a Doctorate, and finished the long list of Mr. Fix-it jobs that are waiting for me around the house, if I could somehow redeem the time I've spent looking for my keys.
Now before you get the idea that I'm a complete key klutz, I want you to know that my keys do not go missing as a result of carelessness. Nor do my keys wander off because I don't have an organized game plan implemented. I have a hook just inside the door on which my keys fit securely. I also have a leather tag on the keys, and a white, plastic, " I love the members of L'Etete Church of Christ!" tag that was a free sample, as well as a REAL Swiss Army knife that a friend gave me for being the best man in his wedding (Hey, beats cuff links anytime!). All this is to say, I've ensured that my keys can be spotted and identified as mine from a considerable distance. Still, my keys go missing. Sometimes they go missing because I forget to put them on the hook (a rare occurrence, much like the birth of a white rhino), or more likely, my loving, thoughtful, wife has taken them and left them in her coat because she's misplaced hers! Truth be told, even my kids get in the act sometimes.
The last time I misplaced my keys wasn't really a misplacing. It was more of an absent-minded locking of the door with the keys still inside. Thing was, I had just finished teaching a grade four computer studies class at Back Bay Elementary School, and then I rushed home to check my phone messages, and quickly scan my mail, before heading out the door. I guess I was doing too many things at one time for my poor, underused, synaptic pathways. As a result, as soon as the lock clicked on the door, I knew what I had done. If only my brain had clicked in before the lock had clicked me out! There were the keys, staring back at me from the kitchen table, encompassed by the clutter of bills and junk mail. Oh, the inhumanity of it all! So, technically, I didn't misplace my keys this time, it was just that there was this wall, this great divide, that separated me from my keys.
What did I do? Well, Sheila was working a couple of miles down the road so I walked to where she was and I got her keys. Then I walked back to the house and the car, and resumed my day, slightly later than anticipated! So the question is:
What did I learn from my latest key fiasco?
First of all, the key to any problem is to roll with the punches. I could have gotten mad at myself, mad at the world, just plain mad! Instead I looked at my options, came up with the best solution possible, and then got busy! Now, having said that, I DO have to admit that I am not that rational or reasonable all of the time. Sometimes, even the littlest things can set me off on a barrage of "poor mes", but not this time. Next time life throws you a curve ball, see if you can use it to hit a home run, or at least a base hit, instead of being thrown out of the game for arguing with the ump.
Keys are an important thing, aren't they. When mine were locked away, and out of reach, my progress was effectively stopped until I got them back. There was nothing I could do to resume my life until my keys were once again in my pocket. No doubt about it, locked doors have a way of changing things. In Revelation 3:7 John records Jesus saying,"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of Him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open." The church in Philadelphia was a small, persecuted church. The life of the congregation was uncertain, at least from their perspective, but not from God's. The message to this church was one of great encouragement. "Don't worry because I have opened the door, no one is going to shut it on you!" I don't know about you, but after having a few doors close and a few doors open in my life, I'm VERY happy that Jesus is the one who opens and closes the doors! Such knowledge may not make my journey any less confusing, but it does keep me cheerfully turning doorknobs!
Our key to the Kingdom is the Good News of the Gospel. We open the door to salvation through the grace that God provides through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. On the day that Jesus died on the cross, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple was ripped from top to bottom. The place that God had promised He would dwell, the place that was only available to the High Priest, one day a year, is now open 24 hrs a day, to everyone who wants to enter! Aren't you glad that Jesus is the only key we need in order to enter into the presence of our God? The lock we could never open was opened for us! Praise God. I'm glad He's holding on to this key for me!
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father! Thank you for offering Jesus, Your Son, as the Key to our relationship with You. Thank You that you have opened the door that we could never unlock-the door of eternal salvation! Thank You for opening and closing doors in our lives so that we can learn, and grow! Amen!
