dailydatewithgod

We like to find the solutions. Who wouldn’t?  Sometimes there is nothing more painful than coming up against a bunch of locked doors but not having the right keys.  As someone who has been accidentally locked out of my apartment or gotten to work only to realize I don’t have my keys, I know what a tough spot it can be.  Keys to unlock doors are more easily remedied than unlocking hearts but both require some time, patience, and connecting with others.  The difficulty when it comes to hearts is we often do not realize the door is locked and even if we do we may have a hard time identifying the right keys to unlock them.  Getting into recovery I realized I had spent many years under the guise of protecting my heart and inadvertently locked it up and threw away the key.  First there was some thawing that needed to occur to get to see the lock,  It was a lock I saw after the ice around my heart thawed.  It was my best thinking for my life thus far.  It was a no longer effective process of heart protection.  It had worked well for so long, I stopped noticing when it wasn’t working until I thought I would break.  The keys I picked up as a kid did not work as an adult. Walking into a 12 step room, provided some badly needed warmth, in the form of safety and complete acceptance, I did not realize I needed or wanted.  From there I began to thaw.  Thawing hurts and it was not a blissful process but my soul and the kinship of fellows kept me in the game.   Soon after accepting God’s invitation to a daily date, the warmth penetrated below the surface.  The dimly lit candle within my own heart began to grow and extend the warmth outside of myself.  These were the keys I did not imagine were the ones I needed. Nor did I think other people would be a key component to guide me into a willingness to unlock my fixed notions of what it means to be safe to love.  The finding of the unexpected keys to my heart has opened my eyes to how keys to unlock other doors in my life may be  not the ones I am expecting or currently have.  The evidence in my life has shown me I can trust God will guide the light within my heart to find the keys I need when and how I need them.  It is a humbling and surprising process sustaining me and makes me less reluctant to freeze or lock my heart again one day at a time.