When our first chocolate lab, Chessy, got old, she could barely make her way up and down the basement stairs.
Once she shuffled her way down the stairs, making her way back up became questionable. She lurched. She stumbled. She huffed and puffed her way back up to the main floor, but only barely.
Eventually, I realized that it was simply cruel to allow her to descend to the cool, concrete floors of the basement, even in the summer heat. The chance she would never reemerge without me attempting to lug her squirmy, 80-pound body up the stairs was too great.
So I shut the door.
She would walk over to the door to the basement numerous times a day and simply stand at the door, patiently, quietly, waiting for me to open it so that she could get cool.
But I refused. I did not open the door.
She would stand and wait. And eventually, after looking at me with confusion, she would shuffle off to a cooler part of the main floor and plop down with a heavy sigh of disappointment.
She had no idea I had shut the door for her own good. All she saw was the closed door.
One day, I found myself talking to her:
"Chessy, I know you want to go downstairs. And I know you don't understand why I am saying no to you. But if I let you go down the stairs, if I let you do what you think you want to do, you may never come back up. I love you too much to make you suffer in that manner. So, even though it seems mean to you right now, I am keeping that door closed. I know, better than you, what is best for you and you just have to trust me."
As I heard these words come out of my mouth, I wondered:
Does God ever whisper similar sentiments to me?
Do I ever stand in front of doors wondering why God allows them to remain closed?
Do I imagine the better life on the other side, frustrated that God won't do what I want God to do - simply open the door?
And does God then whisper to me:
"Alice, even though it seems mean to you right now, I am keeping that door closed. I know, better than you, what is best for you and you just have to trust me."
I bet God does ...