Missed Opportunities

On my first trip to Africa in 1985, I changed planes in New York. As my inbound flight taxied toward the terminal, we had to stop to allow another plane to land. I had a window seat. A Concorde landed right beside us. But I did not snap a picture. It was a lost opportunity that will not occur again. The Concorde no longer flies.

Later, from another airplane during that same trip, I had a chance to get a photo of Mount Kilimanjaro. I figured that I would see plenty of that mountain. I did not take the picture. I have seen Kilimanjaro again and taken photos of it; but I have never had another opportunity to take a photo of it from the air. It was a lost opportunity that is unlikely to occur again.

Every day is full of opportunities. Many of those opportunities will never occur again. Missed photo opportunities are not a huge issue, but some of the opportunities we let pass are far more significant.

Encourage someone today. Yes, you may get another opportunity to encourage someone tomorrow; but you will never get today’s opportunity back.

Speak the gospel to someone this week. Yes, you may have the chance to do so again later, but then again, you might not.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going" (Ecclesiastes 9:10, ESV).
“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10, ESV).