Mastering a new tool is life sustaining.
About a month ago i was scheduled to do a women’s retreat in Mount Pocono, PA. It was a group I had done retreats for a few other times. I was looking forward to the experience, as is true of every retreat or workshop experience I contract to do. Leading a group of women who are hungry for continued spiritual growth is what my calling is all about I believe. I love the interactions with the women. I love preparing my presentations, and I love making them. Speaking and writing simply make my heart sing with joy.
And I am fortunate to be invited to do programs that include men too. My life is blessed every time an invitation to lead a program is offered to me. But the point of this post is to share the surprising experience I had when contemplating the Mount Pocono program. I contracted pneumonia the weekend prior to my scheduled departure; and for the first time ever I had to cancel a program. Making the call to the coordinator wasn’t easy. I knew it would put her in an awful position. Everything had been set for the program. The materials had been assembled. The money had been collected. The meals planned. And then I called with the very bad news. Karen, the coordinator, was stunned into silence initially. And then a new door opened. “Do you Skype?” she asked. My reply wasn’t music to her ears. “No. But I will try to learn.”
Thank goodness a sister-in-law came to my aid. I called Karen and said, “I am good to go.” I was pretty ill with pneumonia but by week’s end, I was able to put the programs together so that I could do all four presentations by Skype. I was thrilled. Karen, the coordinator was thrilled. And the nearly 100 women at the retreat were thrilled. The reason I share this here is to stress that we are generally always capable of doing more than we ever thought possible. Additionally, there is always a silver lining in every “supposed set-back.”
For years I have said that every experience, no matter how dire it first appears to be, is an opportunity for growth we didn’t even know we were ready for. Learning a new tool like Skyping is truly a gift for a person in my line of work. I’m not sure I will offer other programs by Skype in the future, but I could. And that’s the blessing.
Any time you feel like you are faced with a set-back, think again. It is simply a new door opening that you didn’t know had your name on it. Our lives are planned to the “T,” and the people we are meant to share every avenue of our journey with is scheduled to make their entrance at the perfect time. This will always be true for us. Always. So in closing I want to say, move toward every situation that beckons, regardless of whether you think you can handle it or not. If it has beckoned, you can! You can. Never doubt what the God of your understanding can ready you to do.
If a door opens, walk through it. It’s on your program for this life.
