Every child of God has had the experience of waiting on God to show us His will for our lives. Perhaps we are considering moving to a particular place, take up a certain job, respond to a need at church. We pray and we wait to know how God will lead us. The late Charles Spurgeon had some wise words about what to do while we wait. He said, “No man ever served God by doing things tomorrow.” Doing nothing while we wait is never an option. Ecclesiastes 9:10 instructs us, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.
While we are waiting on the bigger picture of our lives to be revealed, we must take care not to be blinded by opportunities today. The small matters of our life often makes the biggest difference to someone else. I remember not long ago when my mother was ill, and I was busy getting prescriptions, taking our dog out, running other needed errands, that a friend arrived at our door with some homemade soup. Ahhhhh, not only delicious, but so helpful. It made a huge difference to my life that day.
We can probably all recall small gestures of kindness that made a huge difference to our situation at the time. Could it be a visit to someone who can’t get out much? Perhaps someone needs their grass cut and can’t manage just now, What about a text to someone just to say you’re thinking of them today. I remember once arriving at an older woman’s house who no longer drove. I invited her for nothing more than a country drive. She loved it! I did, too! We were both blessed with great joy.
As I look back over my own life, I had the pleasure of observing two people who were excellent in seizing opportunities to make a helpful difference in someone else’s life. I’m referring to my parents. Countless times I have known them to get up at all hours of the night to drive several more hours to pray with someone in the hospital about to have surgery. My mother often helped older people with aggravating paperwork that needed to be done for insurance, or financial matters. When my parents knew a family was struggling, they would load up bags of food from their own pantry and leave it unannounced on the family’s doorstep. My mother and father were like secret agents, pulling off undiscovered escapades of kindness. I was touched in watching them, and amazed, because doing these things filled them with so much joy. I never once heard them even hint that they were being inconvenienced.
I am thankful to have had such tremendous examples of, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, but the very best example for us all is Jesus Himself. His ultimate destiny was to die for the sins of the world, but He didn’t wait around doing nothing until that moment arrived. As He went from place to place, He encountered one need after another, and He met those needs. He showed kindness to the hungry, the sick, visited the poor and lonely, gave hope to the unlovely. Jesus was a master in letting people know they mattered. That’s what we all want, isn’t it? To believe that we matter to someone? Jesus played with little children, encouraging others to do the same. He honored the elderly. The hands of Jesus seized opportunities each day. May we, also, have eyes to see, ears to listen, and hands to perform a kindness today — because tomorrow is never promised.
Would you like to have your joy bucket overflowing? Then look and find and do with all your might. To be the voice, ears, hands and feet of Jesus is a happiness that can’t be bought, only acquired through showing kindness with all our might. The smallest gesture from you can be the biggest blessing to someone else.