Missed Opportunities
(Part I)

What does Jesus tell us about noticing the opportunities we have in front of us? We're quick to blame an undesired outcome on a single moment. How many times have we declared that a ballgame would have had an entirely different outcome if it wasn't for one blown call by a referee or a single missed free throw? Have we ever thought if a teacher grading our exam would have given us just one more point on a complex discussion question, we would have had the grade we wanted? We assign blame to these single moments, but what about all of the other mistakes made leading up to them? When we look back, there were plenty of missed free throws from earlier in the game or simpler exam questions we answered incorrectly. We tend not to bring up these mistakes, but these contributed just as much to the undesired outcome about which we're unhappy. In fact, if not for these mistakes that added up along the way, that one blown call or arguable item grade wouldn't matter. When we are honest with ourselves, there were plenty of opportunities for success; we just missed these opportunities. After all, it's far more convenient to blame others than to acknowledge the missed opportunities we had. However, as we brush these missed opportunities aside, they begin to accumulate. Before we know it, we can find ourselves looking back at periods of our life as a mass of missed opportunities. As Christians, we have missed opportunities in God's word; there are times we can be studying and learning it for ourselves or spreading it to others. We miss opportunities to spend time in prayer. We miss opportunities to help others, through visiting and talking with someone in our congregation or communities who needs it in a time of poor health or loneliness. We miss opportunities to learn about others, both within our Christian family and from those who could potentially be added; there are times to understand their struggles and build a relationship with them. There are plenty of calls for help or need that those around us give, but we miss the clues because we're too preoccupied or distracted elsewhere.

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Ben McManus

Updates

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