“Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
Colossians 4:5-6
It occurs to me that I do not always look for every opportunity or even recognize some that may be right smack dab in front of me. Yes, there are opportunities I’ve sought out, like volunteering at the nursing home, driving for the homeless ministry, etc. but there are some that I blindly stumble right over. How about you?
There are so many good things we can do in life. There are so many times we can stand up for our principles and beliefs. Some opportunities are obvious, but perhaps not others. Are there times that others are watching us and judging our Lord and Savior by the way we react to the person who cuts us off in traffic, the clerk who at the end of a long day is rude to us, or the whiny child or adult in the line at the grocery store or sitting next to us on the plane, who is pressing our last nerve?
How often do we make time to reflect upon our lost opportunities, that we might be more aware of new ones? Do we ever wonder what others think about our faith, and what we show them about the God we profess to love? After all the grace that has been extended to each of us on the Cross, it seems we continue to miss opportunities to be full of grace and share the love that has so freely been given to us. Often it seems the very things which should be simplest for us to do are the very things we may be most likely to miss.
I confess that in my life there have been times when I might have been the only Gospel another would see, and yet I missed the opportunity to show them the Lord. What about you?
So, what might we do to help us to heed Paul’s advice to the Colossians to see and seize our opportunities, living lives that are full of grace, salt and light, answering everyone with our actions, as well as with our words?
My suggestion is to spend a small amount of time at the end of each day
not only thanking God for the many blessings you have had that day but also reflecting on missed opportunities and seeking God’s blessings in living a life that is full of grace, salt, and light. May it be so and may the Lord bless you this week.
Shalom,
Pastor Peggy