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When an equipment breakdown threatens this worker's income, her prayer leads to a surprising fix.
Dang! This shredder was about to shred my income instead of the documents I was hired to destroy. I was halfway through when it started shaking and making noises like a cement mixer. It didn’t seem to be an ordinary jam - I’m always very careful not to overload it. I looked at the casing and it was tightly sealed all around. I couldn’t get it open and didn’t want to break it. I was totally stymied. So I did what I usually do when I get jammed: I set it aside and prayed. I asked Spirit, to help me see the next doable step. The next day I decided to try to pry it open again. After about an hour wrestling with it, I finally got it open. I disassembled the mechanism and found a loose staple, which probably was the culprit. But I also found one of the gears was stripped. It was completely worn out. At first I found myself saying, “I can’t afford to buy a shredder!” But money, as always, is just an excuse for something else. Sure, I could save up over several weeks and buy one, but I really needed it - and the income - now. Something besides money was the issue this time. I prayed about it some more. I recalled that a man at a hardware store once told me: “Why do people buy drills? Not because they need drills. It’s because they need holes.” Boing! I didn’t really need to own a shredder. I just needed to do some shredding. Lots of people have shredders. I don’t need to own one in order to use one. Isn’t this true of so many things? While there is some stuff you really do need to own or rent, a lot of things you don’t. I'm blessed with a wonderful roommate/landlady who lets me use everything in her house. That means I don’t need to own many things, from kitchen appliances to home furnishings. The use of her garage has even spared me having to rent storage space. I believe in a loving Creator of a universe full of goodness. Not shredders or drills or appliances - material things - but ideas for living usefully and happily. Translating those ideas into specific, worldly things may not be easy at first. But by staying calm in the assurance that good is ever-present, staying open to the likelihood that I will perceive a right solution, helps me to see that solution. Even what we perceive as a need may not be what we actually need. I’m grateful for all the steps I had to take in order to learn that I don’t have to automatically go out and buy something when something breaks. Sometimes that is the right thing to do, but sometimes, maybe more often that we realize, there are alternatives uniquely appropriate for the situation. It’s likely that sometime in the future I’ll purchase another shredder, but being able to borrow one was what I needed just then. I very quickly located someone who offered theirs for me to use – and assured me I can use it any time. The shredding is all done now. And I didn’t have to buy anything. I’m grateful for yet another example of already having what I thought I lacked. (Hey, maybe I don’t need “a” job – maybe I just need to be attentive to all the good there is to do, and the infinite supply of ideas with which to do it! But “a” good job would be nice, too.) This blogger is on a search to find employment that values her skills and passion. Follow her journey in her blogs at SEWjourner .
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