Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. Colossians 4:5-6 (NASB)

I don’t make the most of every opportunity. In fact I believe opportunities fly past me as I rush from place to place. Opportunities are there but I have to notice them first.

Jesus was great at this. He noticed. Everything. Jesus would never avoid going down the cereal aisle when he saw your daughter’s friend’s mom coming from the other end. I’ve done this.

Instead, Jesus would smile at her as he walked toward her. He would ask her how she was doing. Then he would listen as he looked into her eyes. And he would be genuinely interested in what she was saying. Your daughter’s friend’s mom would leave knowing that she mattered. She would be so uplifted by that short but real conversation that she would go home and do the same for her family. Then maybe her husband would do the same for his hurting co-worker the next day. And her teenaged daughter might reach out to a lonely classmate.

One conversation with Jesus can change everything.

What if I do the same? What if I take the time to notice? What would happen if I slowed down enough to see those around me. Not just see, but notice. Speak. Listen. Love.

It starts there. With the opportunities. At home. In the grocery store. At the salon. In your neighbor’s yard. At work or church.

Be tasty…..”seasoned with salt” as the verse says. Bring out the best in others in a conversation.

Someone needs you to see them.

Someone needs you to smile and say hello.

Someone needs you to listen.

In response to The Daily Post’s prompt Pay It Forward.