As I drove to work the
other day, I saw a house with red shutters. I wondered when the house got red
shutters because I don’t remember seeing them before. I had been driving the
same way for years, passing the same houses, streets and businesses, but
suddenly I noticed red shutters.
There are two possible
reasons for this… they painted the shutters the day before or I just never
noticed.
In life, we very often
go along the same paths, to the same places, with the same people, and we
never look outside ourselves to truly see what is going on. Don’t get me
wrong, we are tempted to look, but then we play turtle when something tries to
get our attention. Is it because we are afraid to care or because we wonder
what would happen if we are not pleased with what we see?
As a Christian, I am
sometimes so focused on church and my personal ministries that I forget to see
what is going on in the neighborhood around me or other ministries. There are
many times that a need is out there that I could respond to if only I saw it. And I don’t
see it. I hope it’s because I am ignorant and guilty of tunnel-vision. My fear
is that I purposely don’t hear the needs of other ministries because I feel
complacent in the little I am doing. Or that I don’t look around because I
consider the pittance I give to our overseas missions and local causes enough to support them; that the time I am giving to discuss how problems should be solved is as valuable as actually stepping up and doing something.
I am really afraid
that when I face Jesus, He will say “what you did for the least of My children,
you did for Me”… and I will remember how I didn’t even see the least of the
children, so did nothing for my Lord.
Today, I decide to
open my eyes to the needs of others. I pledge to get out of my comfort zone and
use my gifts to spread the Word. I promise myself that when Jesus comes to me
as a crying child, a starving man, a lost heart…I will see them and Him.
My path may be the
same, but I need to see the paths around me as well. Sometimes they are just
calling to be noticed but sometimes the paths around me have changed. Now they cross mine.
I need to be diligent and watch for
merging traffic…and yield accordingly.
This is a true revelation to me of my own character. And all because of a house with red shutters.
