The Door That Opened My Future

There are moments in life when a door opens — not just physically, but spiritually — and lets the future in. Graham Greene said it best: 

  

“There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.” 

  

For me, that moment came at the age of eight. 

  

I found myself frustrated with a Sunday School lesson centered on cutting out paper figures. My heart longed for something deeper — a true knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. Trusting that yearning, I left that class and began attending my grandmother’s church, where the Bible was studied earnestly and spiritually interpreted. 

  

Little did I know, this simple decision would shape my life for decades to come. 

  

The faith I cultivated there became the Higher Power I would lean on during my journey through Alcoholics Anonymous. Later, it provided the spiritual foundation for my conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and my ongoing missionary service. 

  

Looking back, I see clearly how the principles of growth and change are at the center of it all. As the Daily Reflections of AA reminds us: 

  

“The essence of all growth is a willingness to change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails.” 

  

Jesus taught: 

  

“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” 

— Matthew 18:3 (KJV) 

  

And the Book of Mormon echoes: 

  

“For the natural man is an enemy to God… unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.” 

— Mosiah 3:19 

  

In recovery and in faith, becoming “as a little child” — willing to be taught, willing to trust, willing to change — has been the key to my life’s direction. 

  

Carl Jung observed: 

  

“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” 

  

Today, I understand: 

  

At eight years old, I walked through a different church door — but in doing so, I stepped into the beginning of my spiritual future. That small act of agency shaped my Higher Power, my sobriety, and my service.