“As (you) have opportunity, do good to all people.” Galatians 6:10 NIV
“Live every day giving God and others your best.”
My thoughts today are about “when opportunity knocks.”
Every day there are limitless opportunities that come your way – opportunities to be better than you’ve been, opportunities to contribute more than you have, opportunities to help someone in a meaningful way, opportunities to be more than ordinary, opportunities to live in a way that can make a lasting difference, and opportunities to touch that which is eternal, not only of time. Ever wonder how many of those you may have unintentionally missed?
I think I do not fully agree with my own title today. I have heard that expression used often, but am not sure how true that really is. It is my observation and opinion that opportunity doesn’t find you, as much as you need to be looking for it. There have been and will be times when you are not looking for a particular opportunity but you need to learn to recognize the occasions in life where a door to a greater future could be opened; walk through that door.
There is a wonderful word, “serendipity,” which describes the experience of discovering valuable things along the way for which you were not originally looking. Isn’t that what someone at an auction, or estate sale, or even a garage sale is hoping to find, and sometimes does? The word derives from a story dating to as early as 1302 and subsequently translated from many languages, “The Three Princes of Serendip.”
The best way to be ready for such a moment is to live every day giving God and others your best, rather than waiting for some special occasion to present itself. Trust me; if you are truly wanting to “do good to all people” you will certainly see plenty of moments to do so. Whereas, if you are waiting for just the right opportunity for your own gain and profit, you will be ill prepared and probably unaware – maybe missing altogether the very time and means that God would have used to promote and prosper you. “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so.” Proverbs 3:27 NKJV.
Life is best lived daily – right now – not postponed until some future right moment or good fortune. “Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won’t be faithful in large ones.” See Luke 16:10-12 NLT. Learn to be faithful now or you will not become faithful later. If you expect to get your big break someday, you had best be preparing every day to be fully ready for it when the opportunity comes. Imagine how many others you will bless along the way. You could be just the serendipity someone else was not expecting.
My prayer for you today is that you live today as the person you most want to become.