From the Chaplaincy

New Opportunities

Have you ever had a dream worth pursuing? Perhaps you have set your mind to realising your dream and visualised yourself doing it? Maybe you’ve been so purposeful that you have put steps into motion to achieve your dream. But what if your dreams are dashed? What if the doors you have opened have closed in your face, and you’re left disappointed and disillusioned?

The year is 1912. The setting is Italy. The family is a father, mother and three children. Their dream is to emigrate to America, the land of opportunity. The hard-working parents scrimp and scrape and put aside just enough money to pay for their fare across the ocean. But this isn’t just any old passenger liner. This is the famed Titanic. The family eagerly anticipates boarding this great ship on its stopover in France, albeit as steerage passengers.

Their journey from their hometown in Italy begins. The mother is pregnant with her fourth child. On their journey to Cherbourg she is very unwell and in need of rest and recovery, and this takes longer than expected. At last the port is in sight, but the Titanic has already set sail and is disappearing over the horizon. The door of opportunity has closed.

This could have left the family devastated and ‘licking their wounds’, but being a resilient couple, they realise the door is not locked. The Titanic has disappeared but their vision is still strong.

In hindsight, what a lucky escape they have had, as on that very journey disaster strikes, and the Titanic sinks. Disappointment is replaced with relief and gratitude, and they put in motion fresh plans to realise their dream.

Mary Baker Eddy writes: “Remember, you cannot be brought into any condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before you and where its tender lesson is not awaiting you.”

Closed doors are not locked doors. View lost opportunities as new opportunities. In the words of Gautama Buddha: “Freedom and happiness are found in the flexibility and ease with which we move through change.”

The Chaplaincy Team