Monday, December 05, 2011

Two Doors

I’ve often wondered why businesses, restaurants and public buildings often have two doors but they only unlock one? The local Pioneer gas station always fools me into not knowing which door to use. I have recoiled and bounced off their doors more than once. I find it very annoying and very non user friendly. The question in my mind is why bother spending the money to install two entrance/exit doors, side by side when you always keep one locked. There must have been a reason? Was it to allow more people to come and go? Perhaps the local building or fire codes determine whether you need two doors or one? In either case, I guess it doesn’t matter.

I think that there are many other things in life that we all treat the same way. God has created our world with a purposeful design. Take gravity for instance. It’s rules are simple. What goes up, must come down. There is no way of avoiding that one unless you’re an astronaut or space tourist [1] and in that case it takes a lot of power and money to avoid coming down. You can stay out there as long as you want if you get far enough away….but then another creative design kicks in….breathing.

With my engineering background I’ve always taken for granted that there are principles behind creative design. When you design and build anything, there are principles and rules behind the design. If you don’t follow them, then buildings and bridges may collapse. But on the user end, if you misuse the creation beyond what it was created to do; then disaster may be at hand as well. So both the creator and user need to follow the principals involved.

I say all of this to simply point out that there is a reason things are the way they are. I believe that God is a master creator and designer. He has created us with purpose. We need to live out the principles of living that are basic to our creation. Things like eating right, exercising and enough sleep to care for our bodies. But there are other things like treating others as you would want them to treat you. Being kind, generous, forgiving and merciful. These are issues of our inner world. When we follow these principles for our inner and outer world then our lives will function as designed until someone locks a door and you recoil and bounce away breaking the rhythm.

It really does matter. There are two doors for a reason. Please keep them both open! Thank you.


[1] Billionaire and former Microsoft Executive Charles Simonyi, 58, who on April 7, 2007 became the latest space tourist at a ticket price of $20 million.