What make life so interesting
are the little opportunities that come our way. There are those chose to become
soldiers to serve their country in the best way they know how even at the cost
of death. On the other hand, even people that have bad intentions looks for
opportunities to do bad things. Thus, opportunities can become either good or
bad. But here’s a story I found to illustrate what to do when given an
opportunity even at a personal cost: “There
is a nine-year-old student sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there
appeared a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants is wet. He thinks
his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has
happened. It's never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out
he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak
to him again as long as he lives. The boy believes his heart is going to stop,
he puts his head down and prays this prayer, "Dear God, this is an
emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead
meat." He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look
in her eyes that says he has been discovered. As the teacher is walking toward
him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with
water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the
bowl of water in the boy's lap. The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while
is saying to himself, "Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!" Now all of
a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of
sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on
while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees
cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But, as life
would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to
someone else--Susie. She tries to help, but they tell her to get out.
"You've done enough, you klutz!" Finally, at the end of the day, as
they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers,
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Susie whispers back, "I wet
my pants once, too."
Even at the cost of personal sacrifice, she did
what was right to lend a hand. What we may lose may benefit others in need and
it will be all worth it in the end because people will know and recognize it
with a grateful heart. Furthermore, the apostle Paul gave us an important admonition
to, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making
the best use of the time,
because the days are evil. Therefore
do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
(Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV)
We must make the best use of time to encourage
and help others however we can and to the best of our ability. If we will wait
for others to do the same to us, we may be missing many opportunities in the
process. Don’t wait for one but find one. Alexander
Graham Bell stated eloquently, “When one
door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon
the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” There is a lot of it when we look around. Remember that our own sphere
of influence is enough to see many opportunities.
The most important principle to
be aware of is this: “Opportunity only
knocks once.” When we miss it, it will not come again even if we wanted to.
That’s why, always be ready to grab it and never lose it. Many have become
enriched by it although neither by money nor adulation but by fulfilling a
humanitarian work that gives honor to God and blessing to many people. May God
help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good helping
others. Find those opportunities, you will make a difference in someone's life.
Let’s talk again!
