When Opportunity Knocks

Galatians 6:10a – Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people. (NIV)

Hebrews 10:24 – And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (NIV)

Ephesians 5:15-16 – Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity. (NIV)

Recently, as my daughter was driving to work, she came across three baby Canada geese on the road. Their mother had been hit by a car. She, being the animal lover she is, didn't have the heart to leave them there, so she gathered them up and took them to work with her. After making several phone calls, she finally found a place that would take them. They told her that she could have tried to find a mother that would adopt them — and, of course, she wanted to try that. So we went in search of a mother. Unfortunately, all the babies we found were quite a bit older than the ones she had found, and so we ended up taking them to the "Guelph Lake Nature Centre". The folks there would take care of them until they were big enough to be set free. By this time, she had had them for three days. She had bought food for them and had mothered them. How much easier it would have been if she'd just left them!

How much easier it is, too, for us to ignore the needs of others than to take the time to stop and help. Maybe it just means:

• a friendly smile to someone we pass,


• a word of encouragement to someone who needs it,


• a phone call to a friend we haven't talked to for a while,


• a note of thanks to someone,


• taking the time to pray for someone, or


• visiting with someone who is in the hospital.

The list could go on and on.

Do we see a friend in need? Let us be a friend in deed. There are needy people all around us. Just as Jesus gave Himself for us, we are called to follow His example and freely give of ourselves to others.

As today's music says:

Freely, freely, you have received;
Freely, freely give.
Go in my name and because you believe
Others will know that I live.

Do our lives reveal to others that we know Jesus Christ?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to make the most of every opportunity that comes our way to love one another even as You have loved us. Amen.