Sonny’s Sayings
I woke up Thursday thinking that the day would not be as full as usual, because most of the family was in Orlando starting Spring break. I only had to take care of Austin, and he is usually very easy-going, so I was gearing up for a fairly relaxing day.
Then I started thinking. I had a meeting with ministers to get ready for, and I was making a presentation. I had to turn in this article. I had two coaching sessions with staff members. I needed to get my car ready and clean for a guest to ride in it. I had to pack to meet the family later in the evening, and I had a dinner to go to.
So much for an easy day. Well I start off every day working out. While I was changing in the locker room and trying to hurry up, someone that I talk to occasionally decided that this was the time that he wanted to really get to know me. I was flustered and in a hurry, but he seemed insistent. There, in the middle of my hurried and “how do I get out of here?” thoughts, came an overwhelming sense that I needed to stop and listen, that the rest of the day would take care of itself. So I did.
He knew that I was a pastor, but a more accessible minister than he had experienced in his past, and so he shared some of his religious past, and some of his current struggles with caring for parents and parents-in-law. Nothing was resolved, but I had a chance to know someone that I only marginally knew before, and I got to show some support for some of the difficulties he’s facing right now.
As I sit here and reflect on that conversation, I am reminded that it is Lent, and that when possible, during Lent we are supposed to turn and look for God. And I almost missed a God moment. I could have put my head down with this fellow, and sort of shrugged off the conversation, and even offered up the justification that I was in a hurry to do good things, but I didn’t, and I got to experience a special moment.
I wonder how often it is that in our hurriedness, even to do important things, that we miss moments with other people: conversations that can shape us, or shape others. So make a decision this Lenten season that you will ask God for open eyes, to see God moments and take advantage of them, whether it is a moment of learning for you, or a moment of helping another.
I hope that this worship today is full of God moments for you.
Blessings Sonny