Big Little Moments, Seeing Obligation as Opportunity

Ever thought about the random people in backgrounds of your pictures? Ever thought about how many people's pictures you might be in? It's pretty amazing how much we show up in each other people's lives. It made me wonder how I appear in those little moments. What if we had a picture of every moment? Would I be encouraging that stranger with a sincere smile and helping hand, or would I be avoiding eye contact, hoping not to be noticed or bothered by them? I think it's the difference between seeing people as being in your way, and being placed in your path. If anyone needs to learn this lesson, it's myself. I've recently been struggling with viewing obligation as opportunity. It's easy when you think about it, it's the thinking about it that's hard. Today as I was riding a very crowded bus back to my apartment and was left standing. Under normal circumstances, I don't mind being left standing. On the bus however, I am not tall enough to hold on to anything, so I was flying everywhere, just like the girl in front of me. A guy on the bus saw us standing and immediately stood so that she could have a seat. It put me in a better mood and I wasn't even directly involved! It's interesting to think about how big those little moments can be to someone, though. So, in addition to challenging myself by making obligation opportunity, I want to challenge myself to take advantage of those little moments and make them big moments (in a POSITIVE way), blessing others as much as I've been blessed.

 James 4:17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Thankfully, we serve a forgiving God.