Hinges

Whether we like it or not, the things we do have an impact on the people and circumstances around us. Every decision we make gives a different color to the whole of life. I've heard it said that “No man is an island”, but what does it mean to actually be a part of humanity and have a direct impact on life and people? Can we even begin to number the ways in which we have changed the face of existence? Yet, on the other hand, if we had not been born, would our impact be missed? Our lives might seem obscure or unimportant, but 'large doors turn on small hinges', and you can't always see which door your hinges are attached to, making it likely that you may underestimate the importance of your little hinge.
Once upon a time I was a hinge. I was working two jobs to earn money for college and living with the family of a friend of mine. Because I worked the graveyard shift I seldom had time to interact with the family because I always needed to try to sleep during the day. Once in a while, when I wasn't too tired, I would sit with the three little children, play the guitar and sing a few of my favorite songs. After that summer I went back to school and didn't see those children again for ten years. I was attending the reception for the wedding of one of those children when the three of them took me by the arm and sat me down, pulled out a guitar and proceeded to sing for me all the songs that they had heard me sing to them. The young man who was playing the guitar told me that he wanted to work as a music technician in a sound studio and was in college studying that field. It was because I had sung to him and played the guitar that he learned the skill and had the motivation to pursue a career. My little hinge opened the door for one little boy and changed the course of his life.
Some hinges are even smaller than that. When I was in high school I was in track because I loved to run. I did pretty well, but wasn't exactly stellar. When I was a Junior, a girl moved into town who could out-run everyone. She broke every record in the school and hardly seemed to need any practice. She was what you might call a natural. Well, the coach was just in heaven and spent most his time 'coaching' the star of the team. At the end of the track year he approached me, and with a look of pity and compassion, explained that I just didn't have the 'natural ability' to be a really good runner, and that maybe my time would be better spent on something else. I stopped running and the door closed on that part of my life. But more than that, I had to overcome feelings of inadequacy for a long time after that.
Hinges can also be broken, but it takes great effort. A long time ago I was told that my voice was pretty badly damaged and that it would not be worth training. This devastated me because I loved to sing and had always wanted to learn the art of singing well. For years I battled the feelings failure and rejection that those words gave me. I would sing, but not where anyone could hear. Then one day, a man whom I respect and revere happened to hear me sing and told me that I had a beautiful voice. I realized that I didn't have to be ashamed of what God had given me just because someone didn't like it. It took a long time, and the process was very painful, but now, where the door was closed I have been able to break that old hinge and forge a new one on the other side so that I can swing the door the other way.
Sometimes we are the hinge, and sometimes we stand at the open or closed door. There is no hinge so small that it cannot change a life, and there is no door so heavy that it cannot swing on lovingly placed hinges. Words, carelessly placed, can swing heavy doors that take years to move. Love, acceptance, forgiveness and trust, given early and often, can open even the heaviest doors to let in the sunlight of possibility.