Today is exactly 86,400 seconds long.... and it will go by in the blink of an eye.
Look at your day so far... you’re awake... maybe you’ve made some coffee... or a lunch appointment for later. Maybe you’ve already checked your email, scanned twitter, and clicked the bookmark to join us here on my Facebook page. Or perhaps it’s much later in your day and you’ve chatted with a client at lunch...or it’s night and you just put the kids to bed.
In any case... time hasn’t stopped or slowed down. Not even once. The sun blazed it’s path across the sky at the same rate it always does (except that once in Joshua 10:13).
My point? Today’s 86,400 seconds represent more than just things that happen to you. Your day is about more than handshakes, heartbreaks, and YouTube. Your day was created special... by the Master Day-maker... by the One who cares more about you than anyone... by God.
Just for you.
Nobody on this whole planet has a day like you do. The faces you’ll see... the words you will say... all unique to you. Each experience hand-crafted to teach you something, remind you that you are loved, or present you with something that only you can grow from.
What’s that “something”? Opportunity. What will you do with your opportunity today?
Make the most of life?
“Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.” - Colossians 4:5
Do good for others?
“Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.” Galatians 6:10
Be positive? Teach someone something? Comfort a friend? Confront someone lovingly? Cease a relationship? Start a new one? Launch a business? Take a class?
You have 86,400 seconds a day to make the most of the opportunities that God has placed on your heart. Some you will know are coming and you can prepare for... others you will be forced to handle on the spot. In either case, your decision will move you closer to your God-potential or draw you further away... There are no neutral choices.
The challenge with opportunity is that we think we have to wait for it to arrive... We’re ready for the thing we think is best for us... standing at the dock waiting for that ship to come in! Unfortunately...many times while we wait for that ship, opportunity arrives on a plane at the airport.
And we have to adjust. And we think we miss it. And life doesn’t go as we want it to. And we aren’t ready. And we think God’s mad at us. And we think we deserve it.
God doesn’t see it that way.
Tomorrow morning, God is going to reset the timer and you’re going to get another 86,400 seconds to love, protect, trust, obey, serve, give, cheer, be brave, dive in, high-five, cry, laugh, defend, and follow through. There might be someone in your path that needs to hear about Christ... or someone who needs to see it modeled in your behavior. Maybe what you’ve been praying for will come to fruition...or maybe it’s another day when God tells you to patiently wait because He has something better for you.
Tomorrow you may get the opportunity to break the cycle and be the dad you didn’t have... or you’ll spend your seconds being both mom and dad to your kids. I don’t know what opportunity you’ll have when God wakes you up in the morning... or even the ones He has planned out for the rest of your today...
What I do know is that you’ll have them... and that 95% of your success in those opportunities... the way you can truly honor God with the way you handle them... is in your perspective. Winston Churchill said it this way:
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
What do you see ahead? Walls or windows? Challenges or chances? A way to feel sorry for yourself or a way to trust God because you don’t understand? Sometimes we want to see life-events as punishment for our sins when all God means them to be are chances to grow. The way we view what happened or what will happen to us can dramatically alter the way we see the size of our God.
God is NEVER small. He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. He is everywhere at one time.
And He has put together a day of chances and challenges that can draw you closer to Him and His will for your life. It just takes the right perspective and an unflinching focus on loving Christ and loving those He has put in our path.
The clock is ticking. Make every second (and every opportunity) count.
