by Margie Potter
Call me old fashioned, but I’m still in the habit of yielding at doors in the presence of a gentleman to allow him to open the door for me. (This would be a good time to clarify this is Margie writing, not Dan.) Now don’t get me wrong, I can open my own door. And often times it would be faster. But there is something so graceful about the interaction of people in this simple maneuver: the yielding, the act of service, the smiles, the acknowledgement of the other person, the gratitude. When you open your own door, you miss it. And, so does the person who may have opened the door for you.
When God called me and Dan to serve in Maui it required that I said farewell to my career with Brighton, a company and family I dearly love. On my last day of Dallas Market, I had the pleasure of walking out of the Dallas World Trade Center with the very person who 15 years earlier interviewed me and welcomed me on board. As she and I approached the doors leading outside into the winter night we both yielded in unison as a gentleman opened the door for us. At that very moment I heard God reveal to me, “This is how I am, if you yield to Me, I will open your doors.” I remember so clearly this revelation from Him and it stamped on my heart this thought: God is a gentleman, he will open the door.
Now I have opened many doors in my day that were not mine to open. I’ve pushed them open, knocked them down, kicked them in. If I wanted something bad enough, or if I thought it was the only solution, I would force the door open. I have an evil twin and her name is Manipulate and she is not a very patient or reasonable woman. A lifetime of chasing approval and applause does not leave much room for yielding and waiting. This reminder from God to yield to Him came in His perfect timing as it became an anthem for me over the next two years of serviceas I learned to walk more intimately with Him.
When we moved back to Texas earlier this year it was time to seek God’s will for a place for me to work. A quick look on the Brighton website revealed a position that had only been posted days earlier for a store manager position walking distance from my home! The timing seemed perfect, I could be back in the Brighton family! Let’s do this! But wait, if this was the door I should walk through, I needed to be still and let God open it. I reached out to a friend at Brighton to let her know I was interested and then I yielded. I waited on Him. I sought wisdom from friends and family, I stayed in prayer. An interview came and went. And as much as I wanted to “do something” to secure the position I did nothing. Dan thought I was crazy. Weeks went by. But I was clearly hearing God say “allow me,” “wait on me,” “be still.” Then at last one day the phone call came in. It was the very same person who had been there beside me two years earlier as I heard God say “This is how I am, if you yield to me, I will open your doors.” She was the voice on the other end of the phone as God opened this new door for me.
It’s peaceful being exactly where God wants me to be. The challenges I face are new opportunities to learn different aspectsof the company. It brings me joy to be a servant-leader to the ladies on my team. In two weeks, I get to fly to the factory in California and see old friends and meet new ones. Along this journey of life there will be many more doors, and I will yield to the presence of the Gentleman in the room and wait for Him to open them.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
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