Last week, I wrote about using the idea of a parking lot to place thoughts or needs that we have but can’t do anything about at the moment. I had a wonderful experience with this practice and how a need was met easily in a way that amazed me.
When I was in college, it was a struggle each year to find a summer job. The summer I was 20, I got a temporary child care position that was scheduled to last only two weeks. At the start of the second week when nothing else was showing up, I remember placing the matter in God’s hands, the ultimate parking lot! I had applied everywhere I knew to, and so I told God that we both knew if I didn’t have a job that summer, I couldn’t go back to school in the fall. Then I let it go. Two days later I got a call from the manager of the Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic in Rochester. He found my name on a list and had an opening for a clerk-typist. I had completely forgotten that I took a civil service test for summer jobs the previous winter!
The next day I went in for the interview. The manager, Joe, asked me if I could type. I said “yes,” and he replied, “You’ve got the job!” It was that easy. And the job paid three times what I had made the year before at a fast food restaurant! In addition, I worked in a nice office during the day, M – F, a far cry from working the nasty fryers six days a week the previous summer. Joe and the others were terrific to work for, and Joe ended up coming to my wedding a couple years later.
Keep the parking lot in mind. It beats stewing over something you can’t change, and it may just be the answer you’re seeking.