“Hello, this is Carlton your Doorman.”
The often-heard but never seen character was a staple of my childhood in the ‘70s thanks to the sitcom Rhoda. It was the first time I had ever shared my name with a popular character, and it made for interesting conversation. I even had an uncle who referred to me as “doorman” for years. To this day, when I hold the door for someone, I usually say, “this is Carlton your Doorman.” That shows my age, as not many people get the reference these days.
I always wondered what Rhoda’s Carlton looked like, and, being a country boy from Kentucky, I couldn’t believe someone’s actual job was holding the door open for people.
Lately I’ve been Carlton the Doorman, but I haven’t been opening doors for others—I’ve been waiting for doors to open for me. There’s a saying going around social media: when God closes a door, praise him in the hallway.
If you’re like me, you feel like a 4th grader in trouble because of all the time you have spent in the hallway. I have been in the hallway so much I could get a job as a hall monitor.
In writing and publication, I’ve gone through some dry periods, when no one seemed the least bit interested in what I had to say. Those periods can be painful, but, as bad as I hate it, waiting for a door to open is part of the deal.
Lately God has opened some doors for me in the writing world. My policy has always been, “If God offers and wants me to write it, I will write it.”
Keeping that in mind, I’ve written standardized test questions. Instructor’s manuals for textbooks. Articles about cross country running and tennis. Plays. Skits. I have even written a set of devotions about nature, even though I enjoy air conditioning and the indoors. I would write material for the back of the cereal box if God willed it.
I can’t begin to make sense of it, but, where God has opened doors, I’ve tried to walk through them as quickly and obediently as possible.
I may never work as a doorman in a fancy New York apartment building, but you can still call me Carlton the Doorman. I’ll just be waiting and then walking through those doors.
