Closing Doors

I read a passage in a book not long ago 

that said one of most painful kinds of marriage 

is one in which your partner refuses 

to fully commit his (or her) heart. 

I can vouch for that.

For love to grow and flourish, 

the author said, 

the exit door has to close. 

People can't grow within a relationship 

if one partner is clinging to the thought 

that somewhere out there, 

there might be someone better. 

If that partner secretly searches 

for a better deal, all the while taking refuge 

in the comfort of the marriage, the relationship can't 

-- and probably shouldn't -- endure.

It takes a grown up to make 

a commitment to fidelity, 

to making one's Beloved "the love of a lifetime,"

to the notion that closing the door 

to other potential partners opens up a big space 

in the soul for a whole-hearted connection. 

Let's hear it for fully latched doors

and the grownups who close them.

Let's hear it for love protected by lovers with integrity.