Anxious moments. Sleepless nights. Long days. We experience these in hopes of landing that dream job – along with all the other people who vie for that same position and status.

We pray for God to open doors of opportunity. What if that once hope-filled, potentially life-changing door closes – or slams shut? Or, agonizingly painfully worse, opens widely for one of our competitors instead?

How can we compete without becoming greedy, ugly and mean-spirited? With our maxed-out emotions and our adrenalin-pumping hearts, is it even possible to succeed in a competitive environment while maintaining a Christ-honoring posture?

It’s so easy to focus on our desire and ambition and lose sight of God’s will. To become so driven to improve our own image and prestige that we fail to value the hopes of the person with whom we’re competing.

Big doors can become big diversions if, in our excitement, we lose part of ourselves – often the part of ourselves we like most. The part that reflects the God Who cares about others and their goals and dreams, too. The part that trusts our wise Father’s love for us, even if the open door isn’t ours to walk through.

Perhaps Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV) can keep our thoughts, motivations and emotions on the right path:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

What if, when that beautiful big door becomes someone else’s opportunity, we trusted God and rested in His love, knowing that, in His good timing, our turn will come? And as we waited for our turn, continued to work hard to improve our skills? What if we trusted God to bless whom He wishes, when He wishes, as He wishes? Think how much less stress we could have if we were to do this. How much less jealousy. How much less frustration.

Peace. Rest. Fruitful days. These could be our new experience if we apply this week’s verse whenever we’re walking through (or crawling through) a closed-door season.

What about you?

You can use a pseudonym (fake name) when commenting.

• How do you handle it when a door you thought was yours turned out to be for someone else?

See sidebar to subscribe to this blog and receive the most recent post to your inbox. There is no charge for this service.