Steward of Opportunity

We go to God in prayer asking Him to help us be good stewards of all our blessings. Now, when I asked for help in this area, I was referring to stewardship of my home, my finances, my children, my job, and other things that are quite tangible. Have you ever thought of your stewardship of “opportunity”?

A couple of days ago, I was having a discussion about a woman in a book who seemed to have so much opportunity to witness to people in her everyday life. These weren’t people at a seminar or even at a church. These were strangers in need who chose to open up to her. Some of these people learned a wonderful lesson or maybe even accepted Jesus as their savior. Others gave her a chance to learn something from them.

I was sharing how a couple of weeks ago, I had been wondering how this woman has all of these opportunities fall into her lap. Later that day, I was at the grocery store placing my son into the shopping cart. A lady next to me with two beautiful, blond little girls was trying to place the second child into the shopping cart. The little girl was distracted by her doll and wasn’t very helpful in putting her feet into the cart. The mother began yelling at her, “What are you doing?! Put your feet in! Oh, I can’t wait till you guys go back to school!” She turned to me and continued, “Then I get some peace and quiet.” She laughed as if she wanted me to agree with her.

Well, I didn’t show her any support by giving her a courtesy laugh but I also felt the desire in me to share with her that our children should be able to rely on us to always feel wanted, welcome and loved. They do need discipline but making them feel unwanted or unappreciated is no way to teach a lesson. As our children grow, they will feel unwanted and unappreciated plenty by the world. We as parents should be their safe haven. I wanted to ask that woman if she knew Jesus and point her toward a book I’ve been reading “The Mission of Motherhood” by Sally Clarkson knowing it would guide her through scripture in this specific area in her life.

It was then that the question I had been pondering had been answered. The opportunities are all around me but I haven’t had the courage to take them. I dealt with thoughts of it’s none of my business, she could get mad and start yelling at me,I could be completely rejected and made to look like a fool. Yes, any of those things could have happened but what if she was a Christian and God placed me there to encourage her in Godly mothering, reminding her to have the law of kindness on her tongue. Perhaps she was crying out because she was feeling overwhelmed and needed to know she was loved and somebody cared about what she was going through. There are endless what ifs. Bottom line is I was not a good steward of that opportunity so I did not get to find out.

Hebrews 13:2
2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
My friend reminded me that there are angels among us and we never know if we are being tested in how we treat them or don’t treat them.

Are you a good steward of opportunity?