Look Out

Sometimes I think we tend to go through life with blinkers on.  We are so focused on what we have to do and occupied with everything demanded and expected of us on a daily basis that we have no time to look around us.  In the process we are missing out on opportunities.

I know that when most people hear the word 'opportunities' they immediately think of it in terms of a chance to make more money, to get a better job or career opportunity or maybe getting a bargain somewhere.  However, while those opportunities are important too, I am talking about opportunities which do not actually have monetary value.  

The opportunities I refer to is the chance to do something good, to really see the need of people around us, people we encounter in our day to day lives.  I want to open my eyes and see where it is that I can make a difference in somebody's life.  Maybe a few words spoken with kindness could make all the difference to somebody's life.  Perhaps it is a simple smile which could encourage someone who feels he can't cope. On my new year's resolution list is that I want to have an open mind to see the opportunities around me so that I can make a difference somewhere.  

So often we prefer to pretend not to see another person's need, we say we care, but we look past the needs of our society, the needs of the environment and the pleas for help in the eyes of the animals at the animal shelters.  We look without noticing, because we are afraid that if we were to really see it, we would have to get involved, and we fear what it would ask of us, what it would cost us.  Maybe it is time that we stop hiding behind our busy schedules and our excuses and start looking for opportunities to give something back to the world we are living in. 

It is amazing how many chances there are to do something worthwhile once we start looking for opportunities to serve and not just consume.  Look around you and make a list of the people or places where you can make a difference.  It need not be a huge thing to make a difference.  Something as simple as putting your small change in the tin at the till for the society of the blind can be a step forward for change.

I pray that we will all start looking around us and will really start seeing.

May you be blessed in whatever you do.