AS THE DOOR CLOSES

 

I have said many times, and have known for years, that I am here to learn and to grow. Planet Earth is my school and life is my teacher. This may be true for all of us, we just are not all aware of it. 

Because I always look at life through the eyes of a hungry student, I look inside life for the ah-ha moments. I have learned that if I stay open and aware, the gift inside the experience will show itself. Well, I had another ah-ha moment this week and once again, I was shown the value of trusting spirit and letting go, knowing everything is as it should be, even when most of my senses are saying "Oh hell no," and I want to struggle with what is.

This week Paul, suddenly lost his job. He called me Wednesday morning to ask me to come pick him up in North Carolina, because he had been let go from the company. Paul has been truck driving for ten years, eight years with this company, and has a clean DMV record. This job kept him on the road from Sunday afternoon to Friday and the only day he could count on being home was Saturday.

For the past three months he has been looking for a local driving job, one where he could be home every day and on weekends. He has put in close to a hundred applications, all online of course, and the only calls he has received has been from over the road companies. 

I had given up hope that he would ever find anything local that paid what he needed to make, and that had good benefits. I had reconciled myself to the thought that he would probably be on the road forever because no local companies were calling him.

On Thursday morning, after losing his job the day before,  he got up, took a shower and grabbed a handful of resumes and copies of his DMV record, and headed for the door. He said he was going to go to a few local companies that hired CDL drivers and leave his resume. 

He arrived at the first company, walked into the office and told them who he was, that he was a local truck driver with over ten years experience and he was looking for a job where he could be home every day. The person in charge looked at his resume, asked him if he could take a drivers test and off they went in the company truck. When they got back to the office he sent Paul for a drug screen and to his have his fingerprints done. When that was done they gave him a packet of employee papers and told him to come home and fill them all in and return them the next day. He was hired. The job pays what he was making and has full benefits. Hallelujah!!

The lesson, the ah-ha moment in this, was when spirit reminded me that I had been told, "when one door closes, another one opens."  I already knew that if the door was closing and I was too afraid to walk out, creator energy would see to it that I left, even if the door had to be slammed shut on me.

That is what happened this week. Paul had been looking for local work, knowing it was time to come home and to leave this company he had been with for years. He wanted a local job but was also hesitant in his heart about leaving the company.  I believe the universe intervened and made him leave so he would be free to job search for something local.

When this happened, I remembered an incident in my life. Back in the 1980's I was in a business partnership with another woman. We owned a management consultant firm and we specialized in working with orthodontic offices. 

After about a year and a half of running our business together, she had a big change in her life. She joined an evangelical church and was gung ho on her new religion. She began to proselytize me and though I told her I was not interested, she continued in her quest to bring me into the fold.  The more I resisted, the more she insisted, and it finally became a struggle. Nothing I did or said was right and we were at odds with each other. I knew I needed to bow out of that partnership and go out on my own, but I was afraid to do that. I did not have the financial means to start my own business, plus I lacked the confidence to go on my own, so I kept trying to work with her, while laying low.

Finally, because I did not have the courage to walk out, she had the locks changed, so when I went to work I could not get in the building. I thought about putting up a fight but something in me knew I needed to walk away, and that another door was going to open. My investment in the business was more knowledge of how to run an orthodontic office, rather than financial. 

About two weeks later my family came to visit and I has a chance to talk to my grandfather. I told him what had happened and that I wanted to open my own consulting business. I had already written a newsletter to send out to introduce my new venture and just needed the capital to buy a national mailing list, a few office machines and a post office permit for bulk mailing. My grandfather offered to give me the money I needed and I was able to move forward with my own venture.

I ran that business for many years and became quite successful as a consultant,  regional and national speaker, seminar leader and trainer.  Eventually I closed the business down because it was time to move on.

In both of these stories, the lesson has been to trust the closed door and let life take us in a new direction. I also learned that I could count on spirit to move me when I needed to move, but refused to do so, due to fear. 

Change is scary, and I am very grateful that even when I have resisted change, it has happened anyway. Creator energy continues to move in mine and Paul's life, as it moves in all of our lives. I think we miss growth and change when we hard-heartedly resist life. It may not always look like it is going in the direction we think it should be going, but I do believe it goes in the direction that is most productive for our growth and healing. 

As the door closes, let it close, and just wait for another door to open.