Seeing walls as doors
If it feels like progress in our lives has hit a dead end, we can turn to God in prayer for inspiration that lights the way forward.
How often do we take a step toward a goal and get confronted with a wall, so to speak – a dead end? It’s easy to get discouraged if that happens, or even to feel like it’s no longer worth the effort to achieve that objective or goal.
However, consider these words, popularly attributed to American essayist, philosopher, and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Every wall is a door.” These words can provide a helpful perspective that encourages us to see that “walls” – any limiting barriers – can be transformed instead into what we could call “doors” that can lead us on the way to the answers we are seeking. I’ve found that through prayer and inspiration, all kinds of doors can open, through which we can find solutions.
There’s a Bible account where Christ Jesus uses the analogy of sheep (his followers) and a sheepfold (a protected space). He describes himself as “the door of the sheep” and also states, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:7, 10). Indeed, Jesus’ teachings and example can be our door, if you will, to learning about God and His power to bring about answers and healing to life’s challenges.
Jesus also said, “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). God’s power and goodness are limitless. And we are the beloved children, or spiritual ideas, of the one divine Mind (another name for God in Christian Science), reflecting God’s harmony. Praying to better understand these spiritual truths, which are evidenced in Jesus’ teachings and example and explained in Christian Science, plays a key role in developing our ability to demonstrate God’s almighty power. This opens doors – empowering us to overcome challenges and discover solutions.
Here’s one example. Quite some years ago, I applied to enter the United States Navy and was turned down due to some restrictions in their application process. I consulted with various individuals familiar with the process, but to no avail. I had run into a dead end with no apparent way forward.
I prayed a great deal about this step in my career, affirming that God has a plan for all that nothing can hold back, because He is all-powerful. In other words, our ability to express boundless harmony and goodness can never be inhibited. In reality we are God’s beloved, spiritual offspring, and we can experience His care and guidance in our daily lives, which brings about good outcomes. After all, as the discoverer of Christian Science and founder of the Monitor, Mary Baker Eddy, states, talking about God, “He has mercy upon us, and guides every event of our careers” (“Unity of Good,” pp. 3-4).
Trusting in God’s timing, I continued to pray, affirming that He would lead me in the way I should go. I decided to hold off from making further application to the Navy for the time being. Then, a year or so later, I felt led to apply again, and this time my application for service was accepted. Had the restrictions or people involved changed by then? I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that God guided my way, and I ended up having a fulfilling naval career of over 24 years.
Regardless of what our situation may be, through prayer to God we can see walls not as dead ends, but as doors. With humility and divine inspiration, we can trust that ultimately they’ll lead us down paths to the solutions that best meet our (and others’) needs.