Like many of us, as a result of the difficult economic times in which we are living, at work I was placed on a project where I had to put in considerable overtime because there were so few people left to do the job.

We put in long hours and worked hard, and after months of preparation, research and documentation, the project foresaw training to begin in a couple of weeks. It was the opportunity I and my colleague were waiting for, because what was once considered a normal phase of everyone's job, training, now is often perceived as an opportunity to become more "valuable" in the eyes of prospective decision makers when the next round of layoffs come up.

Last Friday, because of a political call, we were told others were offered the training we were assigned and would be replacing us. In my heart the words "stay awake" came to me but I just wasn't sure what to do.

"Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour." (Mt 25:13)

Later that day, one of my colleagues had a meeting  with one of those who would be "taking our place." Although she's Buddhist, she has great respect for Chiara Lubich's commentary on the Word of Life and looks forward to it each month. When she came back from the meeting she told me that at first she was a little short with the person who would be replacing us,  but then was able to turn that sentiment around and speak to her with consideration and love. That opened up a conversation between us. We realized we could be more aware of opportunities, when they come up, to get training for the entire group. The next day, seeing we were no longer on the list of persons to be trained, one of the trainers offered to teach us on the side, at no cost to the company. We asked if anyone else could join us. We were thinking of our entire team, knowing all would jump at the chance. He agreed, with no problem at all. This spurred us to think of other ways to expand the list and communicate to the entire group, to offer more sites for training, and so forth. We talked all this over with our boss, who was incredibly grateful.

I realized that what God really wanted was my "yes." This allowed Him to take a painful situation which triggered an initial reaction of distrust and envy among everyone in the group, into a new opportunity to "stay awake" and always be there to help one another.

Anonymous