Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Opportunities are all around us every second of every day. I’m not sure we really grasp it very often – all the different things we could do with our time and energy, because once we get our patterns and habits set we feel comfortable keeping things as they are. It would be interesting to me if at the end of our lives, when it’s totally over, we could look back with God and see all the different paths we could have taken had we just had that conversation, or set that appointment, or turned left instead of right, or maybe not have been so fearful. I often wonder about the “ancillary” people in our lives. You know, the people you see here and there, maybe live near you, you wave at – but you don’t really know them at all. Or, even further down the line – just people you see once in your life and never again. Pumping gas on the way to Florida there’s a guy on the other side of the pump. You nod hello, don’t say anything, fill your tanks and move on with your lives. Maybe that was an opportunity. You’ll never know. When I run in the summer there’s a woman who often walks the same road at the same time I do. She lives near us. I know the house. She probably knows where I live. I don’t know her at all, though – but we wave and say hello as we pass each other. Many, many times. What if that was/is many many missed opportunities? Unless something changes and we actually stop and talk to each other for some reason, we’ll never know. And this is how we live. We might see someone at a party we’re attracted to but fear stops us from saying hello – and that opportunity is lost. What if that was the biggest opportunity we were ever given if we had just moved past the fear? We’ll never know. If we want to take advantage of the opportunities we are given, first we have to be somewhat open to change. Change will happen to all of us anyway, every second we’re alive we’re changing. But how will we change? That road is paved with opportunities. We get to pick which ones we take. And so often we close ourselves off and just go about our business as we always do, which can blind us to the fact that every second we have on earth is a chance to move in a new direction. Don’t like the way you’re eating? You can move in a new direction today. Don’t like the people you’re spending time with? Nothing says you can’t change that. Jobs, fitness, your circle of friends, where you live, how you spend your time – every second you have is an opportunity if we stay open to the concept. So often we don’t seem to, though. When you’re running your life on a treadmill you can sometimes forget that there’s a huge world out there to explore, but you have to get off the treadmill and head into the unknown to do it. Sometimes that’s where the magic is. Sometimes it won’t work out. Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from taking that step forward. What opportunity will you take advantage of today? What idea could you explore? What conversation could you start? Get off the treadmill and be open to everything and everyone. We only get one shot at life, let’s make the most of it.
