A Word (actually a bunch of words) on Opportunity

Welcome to my blog!  Here, you will find, in the short term, details concerning my trip to Scotland as a missionary, and in the long term, my ramblings about life as a Christian, American, blind person, guide dog user, writer, and musician (I am a vocal performance major).

In an attempt to briefly explain the first word in my blog title, I present to you a Short, relatively unedited Treatis on Opportunity.

Life is, ultimately, a collection of opportunities: opportunities to learn more, work harder, and love greater.  A trial is merely a chance  to triumph; a race is simply another shot to win.  Of course, sometimes we fail, but the wonderful thing about Christ is that he is the key to opportunity, and whenever a door slams shut, He opens a window somewhere else.  I know it sounds cliche (it is cliche), but who ever said cliches are necessarily untrue?  Even when we do lose the race, He’s waiting at the finish line cheering us on, and waving a flyer advertising the next marathon.  Our job is only to grab the flyer from Him and mark the date on our calendars.

Okay, so maybe the analogy didn’t work quite as well as I had hoped, but the point is that in a life lived with Christ, God presents us with countless opportunities (I promise not to use that word again) to grow closer in our relationship with him and to serve him in unimaginably incredible ways.  We have only to walk through those doors, and find what He has waiting for us on the other side.

That, essentially, is what I am striving to do in my life, and what we all aim to do in our journey with GOd.  In my experience in this confounding maze we call life, no matter what you think God is doing, what He’s really doing is taking all those dead ends and locked gates and turning them into new passages to explore.  When I lost my sight as a child, a very large, very heavy door slammed in my face (I didn’t see it, though I definitely heard it), but God led me through other portals, and I discovered piles of hidden treasure that I may never have found otherwise: independence, determination, and daring.  I thought I was trapped when my parents divorced, but God cleared the way for me, when I finally made him the Lord of my life.  And of course, he led me to my sweet guide dog, Oleta, who serves as my eyes, both physically and, sometimes, spiritually.  She often goes after opportunities (oops) much faster than I ever would, which is where I will continue in my next post.  Until “Unleashed”, this is Shea, signing off.