Building Walls Or Opening Doors

On one of my many trips across the country as an itinerant minister my family had accompanied me. My children were young and had asked that we do some tent camping along the way and so, not having any camping equipment, I made my way to Costco and purchased a small dome tent. It looked similar to an igloo, not resembling at all the two person, canvas tents I remembered from sleeping out in my back yard as a kid. Not being an avid camper myself, I decided it would be wise to set up the small tent in the backyard before we made our way across the country searching for the perfect campsite. It actually was a fairly simple process. Each of the two moderately long, fiberglass poles slipped through an appropriate slot and then were fastened to the base of the tent. When they were fastened to the corners the created a dome like structure with a nice sized, zippered front door. As soon as it was set up in the backyard my children jumped into the tent. They were in pre and early elementary school so the tent seemed like it might be adequate for all of us, that is until I actually saw them squirming around in the tent. I realized there was no way we were all going to get a goodnight sleep in there. Fortunately we had a good friend who had a tent we could borrow. The problem was quickly solved and we were on our way. When we arrived at our first campsite it was late and the campground was not well lit, in fact it was pitch dark. We got out our flashlights and the camping gear and began to set things up. The tent from Costco was up in a matter of moments and my children quickly claimed it for themselves. I then began to work on setting up the second, borrowed tent. The first thing I realized was that this tent only seemed to have one really long fiberglass pole. I had assumed this tent was like the other but it was completely different. The first time we set the borrowed tent up it seemed to take forever, but when we were finished my wife and I stood back with a sense of accomplishment. The only problem was we could not find the doorway to get into the tent. There was no access. Sadly, I began to dismantle the tent so that we could begin again. While taking the tent down I realized that when we set it up somehow the door to the tent had ended up being the floor of the tent. It was now very late and I tried very hard on the second attempt at setting the tent up to make sure the door was always accessible. But even with extra vigilance, three quarters of the door ended up as the floor leaving a six inch crawl space through which one could enter the tent. I looked at my wife and said this is as good as its going to get unless you want to be watching the sunrise instead of sleeping. She agreed that both of us could slide into the tent on our stomachs (eventually we would be lying down anyway…) and so we crawled in and went to bed. I realized how important doors are to extend and receive hospitality. The absence of doors tends to close us off and make us inaccessible. Whatever the structure I may be building it is important to have doors that offer access, hospitality and most of all the possibility of relationship. The problem is that sometimes, because of fear, we become experts at building walls to guard ourselves from the threat of danger. Especially when I am hurt my tendency is to build a wall, rather than a door, to protect myself. And with each threat a new wall is built that keeps others out, but also keeps me in, living under the illusion of safety while ultimately being alone behind the walls I have erected. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus said, “love your enemies, and pray for those that persecute you.” When we have characterized someone or something as an enemy, we tend to take on a defensive posture, which often leads to building walls to protect ourselves. We hope to guard ourselves from the potential hurt that the threat poses. When Jesus said to love our enemies, He was calling us to a counter intuitive way of responding. He commanded the children of His kingdom to become vulnerable towards the enemy, rather than become defensive. He called us to open and reach through the door of love rather than hide behind the walls of fear. It is the very way He chose to live out His time within the hostile environments of humanity. This command is stretching me in ways that are often uncomfortable. To engage my enemy through the doorway of love rather than behind the walls of fear puts me in a more vulnerable position. But in that place of vulnerability, I am accompanied by Jesus, who every day offers me refuge from the threat. My vulnerability has become an opportunity to experience His care, protection and strength. It has also enabled doors of hospitality and love to be opened so that relationship can be invited and nourished in the name of Jesus. I hope, when you find yourself inclined to build a wall of protection against the perceived threats around you, that you will instead pray for the strength to open doorways of love that access a hurting world.