Food for Thought
                                                                   
          

Courage                                    
Children (Our Greatest Teachers)

Courage

I opened a new door and in I walked to see. Was what awaited on the other side, there for me?
The room was large and not one I had been in before. After I entered inside, I turned and went to shut the door.
I took a last look from where I had come. My time in that old room had now been done.
I knew that old room inch by inch; I knew it all to well. I had tripped over in it and once or twice I had fell.
The room I had come from was all full of clutter and junk. Over the years it seemed to have shrunk.
The wallpaper was peeling of and its color was a dull grey. I had been in that old room for so long now, day after day.
My old room had very little color, no variety or class. It seemed to have no style, I was glad to be free from there at last.
Before I would look at this door from the other side of my old room. I was afraid that if I opened this door it would all be too soon.
It was the unknown on this side that had made me remain in there. The door had awaited me like some kind of dare.
I went about my day in that old room and nothing ever seemed to change. The furniture that was in it I had tried to re-arrange.
But this door remained well in my sights. I tried to cover it with a poster or two. But I always knew the door was there. I always knew I could go through.
I tried to pretend that the door was locked and I had not been given a key. But all this did not matter because I knew it would open for me.
And now standing in this new room, my mind how it raced. I was having one idea after another, this new room had heaps of space.
There was so much potential in this new room and I had not yet walked away from the door. I looked around the walls for a while then the ceiling then the floor.
Where would I start from first? How would I shape it for myself? I thought of putting some love in the center and in the far corner, I would line with wealth.
It was mine to do what I wanted with, anything I cared to choose. I could hang in there new curtains and lay out a place for my shoes.
I had forgotten that I had been frightened. I had forgotten that I had been scared. I had no thoughts of running back to my old room, although it was here I had once feared.
Opening that door was the hardest part, no matter what I found on the other side. I could have stayed there in my old room; I could have stayed there till I died.
It was the fact that things became so bad in there until I could not bear it anymore. It was the fact that things became so bad in there that was the reason I had opened the door.
Sitting here now in my new room it baffles me how I waited so long. At least from this experience I now know that opening a new door is never wrong.
I sat quietly in my new room, although I was in awe. It was then I realized, I had only 3 years left to my life, It was then that I wished I had been earlier through my door.
At least I was standing here now, 3 more years in there would have been mad. Now I have placed myself somewhere new and don't have to spend the 3 years sad.
I felt like going back and telling my friends that they too could open theirs. But because I had once been like them I knew they would have too many fears.
If I went back to my old room, my friends would want me to stay there. They would try to make my old room nicer for me and they would genuinely seem to care.
But I was once like them, my room felt safe because I knew it all so well. So I knew they would all remain in their old rooms, no matter what story I had to tell.
I just had to hope that one day it would also get bad enough for them. But I knew I had to leave them alone because only they could decide 'when'.
Wow! What a great new room I have, I can see myself getting lost in things to do. My imagination was soaring high; I could have one bed in here or two.
Just then I heard a knock at the door, it was another door I had failed to see and when I went to open it a lady stood before me.
She welcomed me as her new neighbor and told me to come sometime for lunch. She then extended her hand toward me and handed me flowers, a lovely bunch.
What a lovely lady she seemed, it had been so long since I had seen a new face. My new room was going to be full of surprises. Surprises were few in that old place.
I realized I would not have met this woman had I run back and helped my old friends out. I would not have met this lovely lady, and my friends would still be in their rooms with doubt.
So when life is really dragging you down, know you are gaining courage to open your door. And as you enter into your new found room, life will become more.

Love Jill.
    

 Our Greatest Teachers