Missed Opportunities

Last week I encountered two people at Walmart. First, when I was walking in there was a girl sitting on the ground right outside of the store. She was dirty and very tired looking. She was sitting with a guy who looked quite a bit older than her. He also looked very dirty. It was close to 100 degrees. My heart hurt when I saw them. Then when I went inside I was waiting in the pharmacy line to pick up a perscription. I was standing behind a man who asked me if I minded if he sat down while he waited. He looked tired. He had bandages on his arms and looked like he was having a rough day. I noticed while he was sitting and waiting, tears started rolling down his cheeks. He was called up to the counter to pick up his medicine and continued to cry. The cashier ignored that he was upset.

While shopping, I began to regret not doing anything. My heart was hurting for these people yet I did not move to action. When I left the store the girl sitting outside was gone. I had missed both opportunities. I can't imagine how many people walked by the two people outside and said nothing, offered nothing, and saw them as nothing. I hate that I did nothing.

When I was in middle school I started volunteering for service projects. I even went on a middle school mission trip to Charlotte where we volunteered with several different ministries doing all sorts of service activities. That period of my life is when I believe that God gave me a heart and passion for service. He gave me a desire to help those in need and to have mercy and compassion. My best memories from highschool are the service days we had with our youth group. Once we cleaned and repaired an elderly woman's house in downtown Augusta. My job was cleaning the bathroom. I spent 2 hours with a paint scraper scraping out the thick layer of dirt and grime that had built up in her bath tub and I loved every moment of it. That can only come from God. I jump at any chance to be part of a service group with planned activities.

So what is the disconnect? Why do I have such a hard time reaching out to people in my everyday life? I feel concern and compassion, and my heart hurts when I see others hurting. Why do I have to wait on and depend on someone planning a service event? Is it my insecurity or a fear? I pray that God will change me, that He will show me what is keeping me from reaching out, and that He will give me more opportunities. To be completely honest it also scares me to pray this.