Missed Opportunities

Doubting Thomas, he always gets called that..

One of the original twelve disciples of Jesus, Thomas gets his rap from verses located in the Gospel of John (Chapter 20), which discuss that Thomas was not present when Jesus made His first rounds of appearances after the resurrection. Read here:

(24) But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

(25) The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

The story goes on when later Jesus appears to the disciples, and presents Himself to Thomas, who after seeing the wounds that Jesus suffered, proclaims Him as Lord. I am not sure that Thomas deserves the “Doubting” title, but for that matter, Mary Magdalene got the “prostitute” label, that wasn’t very fair either.

Thomas misses a meeting, and this is what triggers off all the conversations about him throughout all of Christianity, Thomas simply “doubts”. There have been times for all of us when we have missed opportunities, when we chose to be somewhere else, maybe even in the right place but “disengaged” from what was going on. And, in a flash of time, seemingly a micro-second, things change and we are left out. Simply said, we have all missed opportunities for growth, for love, for challenges, even opportunities to connect with God.

For us, our missed opportunities will probably not be chronicled in time immortal in Christian history, but none the less, we missed the boat. People spend days, weeks, hours, sometimes a lifetime trying to find a way to recover those moments, going as far as trying to recreate the events that led up to the missing chance in time. This is especially powerful if the missed opportunity surrounds the loss of a loved one.

For me, I have allowed myself to mourn my missed opportunities. I have several, and I am trying to learn from each one of them how to be more aware and more present, and to be able to discern my priorities better. There is something I have found that is very effective as well.

For many of us, we spend a lot of head-space jumping to conclusions that never happen, thinking our situations through to the worst possible conclusions, and being overly concerned about the opinions of others. It is no surprise that we often miss the opportunities right in front of us with all this traffic going on in our minds. We need to clear out the noise and get re-focused at the task at hand.

We are here to help the Creator to restore the world, to repair it. We are joined in His mission of making the world a better place for the people in our area of influence. This is accomplished by living out our lives being kind, caring for others, providing for the needs of the less fortunate. We also are here to A) Create Opportunities and B) Create Memories.

We must stay plugged in to the everyday moments, moments at work, with our families, our loved ones and the people that God has crossing out path, even if we only see them in our lives for just a moment. It is kind of like watching a movie and looking at every corner of the scene, watching every character for the next clue to the scene. It is about maximizing each of our moments to see what wonder could be hiding in it.

We can miss a lot less opportunities by being present in the moment. This morning, my eight year old Andrew was nervous about a class field trip. He dressed up in his shirt and tie, borrowed a suit coat from his older brother and was sitting down on the couch looking a bit concerned. My wife mentioned to me and said he might need some “daddy encouragement”. So I pulled him aside and gave him my best advice. In that moment, we connected in a way that cannot be duplicated. I am not sure if I helped him, but I did recognize that he was there and he matters.

In our religious practices, we can miss the value and importance of them by simply participating in them. We can allow ourselves to be lulled to sleep and not get the connection to God. When it becomes the “automatic” response and we stop looking for the Divine in the moment, we miss so many opportunities. It takes being in the moments, all the moments. God can appear in the most amazing places.

Don’t miss your opportunities. Don’t think that the next person will do it. When we allow ourselves to pass on the opportunities to the “next guy”, it will be us that later will swim in the waters of regret. Take a moment and be present, make someone a priority, pick up the phone (texting does not count) and let people know you care.

David Fournier in the Senior Instructor at Restoring Grace. David teaches classes on Hebraic Perspectives, Early Christian Communities and New Testament Formations and Canon. David is available for your church, youth group, seminars and retreats. Email David at: dfour26@gmail.com