When Opportunity Knocks

I was getting ready for church this morning and there was a knock at my door. My children raced upstairs to tell me that we had visitors. I will be honest my first reaction was one of annoyance ... I was after all getting ready to leave. I could not imagine who would be going door to door on a Sunday morning ... and half way contemplated just ignoring them ... but, surely the people waiting outside my door had heard my children racing up the stairs yelling, "Mommy someone is at the door!" To ignore it at this point would be rude, so I begrudgingly went to the door and answered it already practicing in my head what excuse I would use to turn down whatever it was they were selling. When I opened the door, there were two people both holding red environmental bags. I quickly noticed the shirt that the man was wearing. It read .... "It is against my relationship to have a religion." It was while I was pondering this, that I heard the woman introducing themselves to me. They were from West Valley Bible Church. They were collecting cans of food to help others. Would I be interested in helping? With a healthy serving of conviction I responded that I would and went to retrieve as many cans as I could carry in my hands. I placed them in their bags commenting that it felt a little like trick-or-treating ... but in a good way. They thanked me in words and smiles and continued on their journey.

I have been pondering this interaction throughout the day and have been brought to a couple of realizations. First, what these people did was bring an opportunity to me to help. God calls on us to help and serve others. It is what we are designed to do. But, sometimes I think we miss opportunities that God places before us. Sometimes we miss the subtle whispers of opportunity knocking … sometimes we hear it, but ignore it because we are busy … sometimes we just don’t recognize it as an opportunity. Today God’s whisper came in the form of a knock on the door. I could have ignored the knock … I wanted to, but I am so glad that I did not. You see today’s visitor brought not only an opportunity to help someone else, but an opportunity to learn a lesson. We all have a list of to-do’s. Our list might even be full of things that are good things to do … like going to church, writing a letter to a sponsored child, or emailing a friend in need of prayer. But, we need to make sure to keep our spirits alert to the promptings of the Lord as he reads off His To-Do list for each of us as well that we might not miss the opportunity to bring Him glory. Second, there is a choice to be made. We can always choose to hide behind the curtains … to hold our breath and hope that they go away … in the name of “I am to busy to do this right now.” But, if we do that, we will never know what God has for us in that moment, and what He wants to do through us or to us ... as the case may be. Finally, there was the saying on the shirt: “It is against my relationship to have a religion.” You see what these two people were offering today was a way to demonstrate my relationship with Christ. It was not about religion. It was not about legalism. It was not about rules. It was about relationship with God. It was about blessings and responsibilities that come with the blessings. It was about loving God enough to hear His heart for others and respond to it using whatever we are blessed with to bless others. It was about hearing the knock at the door of your heart and answering use me.

Father, forgive my selfish heart. Forgive me for hesitating when you called. Oh how quick I am to see things from my own perspective instead of yours ... placing my own to-do's infront of yours. Grow me Father. Fill my heart with a reverance and sensitivity to your promptings. Help me to see that you orchestrate opportunities for me to be used ... more often than I realize. Search me and know me ... change me ... use me. AMEN