At the door of the New Year
Aniko Ujvari
„I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep...I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come and go out, and find pasture” John 10:7.9.
I am standing in front of the door.
This is the widest hole on the wall. The door is very important. I can go in and out of the door. I can enter and leave, I can lock it, close it, I can go through it. I may open the door, I may close the door. It can hide myself from the outside world, it can protect me from the strange, fearing things. It can close me in or close me out.
I may hitch it up excitedly. I may open it with quizzically. Being curious, what is there inside? Like the story of opera of the Hungarian musician Béla Bartók The castle of the blue beard prince. The woman, she is Judith wants to see every corner of the castle, and the prince opens the doors one by one. The prince asks her only in front of one door not to open it. At last he gives up and that is her tragedy. There is the pantheon of all the women who took part ever in his life. Being curious, to open the doors...maybe sometimes not the way to do so.
But I may open the door in the opposite way, when I open it from inside because I would like to see the outside world. I face the new challenges with interest. I may stand for a moment at the door to look back what I will leave or to just make the first step without any fears.
Doors give safety and freedom at the same time.
We are at the door at this moment, the new beginning, a new year!
What do we leave behind? Maybe some joyful moments, experiences. Maybe worries and hardships, which were not useless, because with the experiences we became richer.
Once someone stood in front of the door of your heart. “Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” Rev 3:20. That is great if you could open your heart for Him. His presence gives you courage to open a new door every year when you need to open the secret door for the new year, for the new beginning.
And let us think about one more door, which remains open for a certain time. “...And there before me was a door standing open in heaven” Rev 4:1
Let us fulfill our calling inviting many people for this new beginning to enter through that open door while we have the time.
I wish you a blessed New Year with hope in our great Shepherd,
“The men who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep”(Jn 10:2)
Aniko Ujvari
EBWU secretary
30th of december 2012