Imposition or Opportunity?

Everything was moving fast. So fast. An extended house guest left Friday evening, and unexpected weekend guests arrived later that night.  I still needed to prepare for an upcoming business trip. I had a list of to do's that had yet to be  'ta-done' and I had already pre-planned  my weekend to focus on finalizing details and tying up loose ends. This was before: a kitchen spill created a reaction with my stove top striker (that resulted in a fire truck and discovery of a gas leak), one of my house-guests had a medical flare up that lasted twenty four hours, the broken phone that added even more anxiety to my house-guests so now we need to visit Sprint on a weekend and still make it to the Open House and family dinner (Mother's Day), etc.                                    Everything was moving FAST and too much was happening at once. 
During this so very 'life happens at inconvenient times' moment, I remember clearly thinking, 'Ugh!'  But  I don't like to live in 'Ugh' moments. So I immediately began to focus on my thoughts, and remind myself that perspective has a very real effect on any given situation and subsequent feelings and resolutions. This gave me enough of a pause to look at everything happening- and what could of developed into chaos magnified- and say to myself and my house-guests, "Fortunately, no one was hurt, the stove did not explode; and if it wasn't malfunctioning, we wouldn't have found the large liquid spill near the electrical socket, nor would we have identified the gas leak so promptly."  A simple statement that started an unplanned conversation about perspective which then grew into an awesomely deep conversation and then I realized:
​This inconvenience was not an imposition at all. It was a divine moment that was almost missed because of FASTNESS. It was a moment in time that God chose to trust me with precious souls that needed a place of rest, refreshing, and impartation. And I almost missed it.

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Sometimes we view things narrowly. We skim over things without slowing down enough to look well into the matter. This was almost one of those times, I almost categorized an opportunity as an imposition. I was so focused on to do's and checklists, that I almost mis-labeled an opportunity to partner with God in bringing and speaking life to someone based on the value they hold to HIM. Not to me, or fitting neatly in to my schedule, but a moment in time where He stops everything to tell someone: "Hey. You matter to Me and I love you." And then He does something eternal in their life and you get to see it. You get to see God, the One who sits high and looks low (Psalm 138:6), interrupt standard Saturday activities to touch a human soul.  #Win

After all, didn't we say, "Lord, use me." Didn't we declare that we would go where He sends us and say what He tells us to say? And even though we may get caught up in day to day details, I'm glad that He took me at my word (smile) and reminded me of what my heart truly longs for: Opportunities to bring hope to the hopeless, and liberty to both the prisoner and captive.

                                                                                                I hope I get another opportunity soon.            
                                                                                                                                                        -Shazzi

P.S. In the spirit of transparency, I was still overwhelmed when I chose to say the Fortunately statement; but I said repeated it. Going on and on about the situation negatively would more only serve to drag it out and put an overcast on the whole weekend. Plus, it was true! My house didn't burn down, no one was injured- at the end of the day it was spilled orange juice and a possible cold shower.  In the words of the wise soul, Abi Booth Spencer: "If that's the worst thing that happened today, you're having a good day."  Yep.