Patience Isn't Waiting

At night, I let my knees hit the floor and I bow my head in prayer.  I pray for the people in poverty in Africa.  I pray for the lost people in England.  I pray for that broken person who I walk by every day.  I pray for opportunities.

In the morning, I open my bible and read.  I read about people in poverty.  I read about lost people.  I read about broken people.  I read about opportunities.

It is crazy how blind I have been all these years.  I keep waiting for God to reach down and take me to Africa or England.  I keep waiting on God to force me to speak to the people I pass as I walk through life.  I keep on waiting, waiting, waiting.  Guess what is happening while I am waiting?  You got it.  I'm missing opportunities.  My waiting is not an act of patience.  It is an act of selfishness.  It is an act of fear.

God has really opened up my eyes lately to see that I am perpetually in an opportunity.  Everywhere I go, everything I say is an opportunity.  I can choose to share His love through my words and actions or I can sit back and watch the broken world keep on breaking. 

In Mark 6:37, Jesus had compassion on the five thousand.  Rather than letting the five thousand go find food as the disciples had suggested, Jesus told his disciples, "You give them something to eat." Jesus could have fed the five thousand without saying a word to his disciples, but he wanted them to partake in his plans. 

Jesus says the same thing to us.  You give them something to eat. You tell them about me.  You go.