ECKANKAR: The Missing Office

E C K A N K A R, Religia Światła i Dźwięku Boga

The Missing Office

HU and the Miracle of the Ninth Room

K. F.

In my work as an interior designer in Queensland, Australia, I occasionally find myself acting as a mediator in conflicts between my clients and the contractors who build their new offices.

One Thursday afternoon, I arrived at the construction site of a job due to be completed the following weekend. Confident the project would be ready for the client the following Monday, I walked through the building, checking furniture deliveries against my list, confirming that the selected fabrics had been used, and generally making sure all the last-minute details were covered.

It’s looking good, I thought, feeling satisfied about how smoothly the project had gone.

But my self-satisfied reverie came to an abrupt end when I reached the end of the corridor, counting offices. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ni . . . Oh, my gosh, where’s the ninth office?” I counted again. Sure enough, only eight shiny new offices filled the space where there should have been nine! What was I going to do?

I went over the problem in my mind. To remedy the situation, the entire row of offices would have to be demolished and rebuilt to the tune of over $150,000. The builders weren’t likely to accept responsibility without argument, and our client, a large government department which had widely advertised the opening date of its new facility, would be likely to sue. Even if the contractor accepted responsibility, the client wouldn’t be able to occupy the building in time.

My heart was in my throat.

Fearfully I returned to my office to explain the situation to my manager.

To my relief, he remained calm.

“It’s clearly the builder’s error,” he said, as he hastily arranged a high-level meeting with the contractor, the client’s representative, and me. “I want you to prepare a detailed report of the implications for all parties and a proposal for a resolution,” he ordered. “Have it ready by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.”

It took me hours to compile the report, my stress level growing moment by moment. The harder I worked, the worse the situation looked. I knew these conflicts often escalated into shouting matches between parties refusing to accept responsibility which would leave them liable for large amounts of manpower and capital.

Then it got even worse. An hour before the meeting, my manager was called away to another emergency, leaving me to chair and mediate the dreaded meeting.

I was left to face the lions alone!

I burst into tears, throwing the unbound report into the air. “Only a miracle will fix this,” I wailed, standing in a shower of paper. As I knelt on the floor gathering up the scattered pages, I realized I had forgotten to surrender the situation to the ECK, the Holy Spirit. To calm my fears, I began to sing HU, the love song to God. Gradually, my composure returned and my heart opened, relieving my anxiety.

As the meeting began, I welcomed two very tense parties to the conference table.

“Before we begin our discussion,” I said, “I would like you each to read my report in full.” Then I settled back and resumed my HU song inwardly as they read. I hoped fervently the right words would come to me to facilitate a solution satisfactory to all parties.

The right words came. But not from me!

The manager of the construction firm spoke first. “There’s no need to go through the entire report. We take full responsibility for the problem. We’ll fly in extra workers and pay day and night shifts to assure your building is ready on Monday morning. We apologize for creating the situation.”

For a few moments, we all sat speechless! Even the gentleman who had made the apology seemed surprised.

Three days later, as promised, our satisfied clients moved into their new building. Divine Spirit had created a miracle. I was humbled with gratitude at the ECK’s simple and unusual solution to a seemingly insurmountable problem.

Strona główna ECKANKAR Journal