How much do you have?
How much do you have?
What comes to mind when you think of this question?
Whatever you think of, the question can feel like a confronting one, and finding the answer to it all the same. Most likely because that answer is best found by looking inwards, and a lot can be revealed when we do.
But when we do, if you do, it might reveal that there a lot more there than you realised.
Splitting at the post
I ask this because I saw a powerful image today.
At the end of one of the busiest shopping lanes in my city sat a man central against a standalone post with swarms of people swimming either side. All splitting at the post.
With his hands reached out alongside his heart, I watched, as he watched person by person - people passing by.
His name is Scott
His name is Scott, and I approached Scott with a sore heart. With frustration and annoyance.
Frustrated that the world seems the way it is. Annoyed at the the people offering smiles instead of a helping hand. Yet both frustrated and annoyed with myself that I’ve let too many moments of conviction go by.
But it was Scott who led me through this stream of thought to another side, where the frustration and annoyance is alleviated a bit more.
Because I asked Scott his story and Scott ended it by reminding me that we are all people.
And that we are.
We are all people
In a world where while it seems the way it is - it is not only the way it seems. That while people split at the post offering a smile - a smile is offered. That we are all people and there is still kindness. There is love.
Yes, in a place of a hustled pace often consisting of inorance and neglect, where a smile simply does not fix the brokenness. But a place where love does live and can be found.
Knowing this doesn’t fix things, nor does it restore this place to perfection. But it’s knowing it that gives us the eyes to seek opportunities. To seek love. To seek Jesus.
Regardless of the splitting at the post. Especially at the splitting of the post.
Layers of life
It’s knowing this that transforms the missed opportunities into one less opportunity missed. And it’s the conviction that chips away until love is revealed and the mirage of the world is peeled away to showcase the layers of life beneath.
There’s power in that. There’s God in that.
And think about what both of those can do. For you, and for me, at that next opportunity.
How much love?
So, how much?
How much love do you have to seek the opportunities to show it to those around you?
Some days this will feel more than others, but even in those days it can be more than what others even have for themselves.
How much do you have?
So, if you can, picture yourself walking through the lane.
A lane of shops, stalls and swarms of people, with a stranger sat down ahead, center, against a standalone post.
How do you feel? What do you do?
How much do you have?
Harrison is a twenty-one year old student who completed his Bachelor of Communications in 2019 and is now working in marketing. He was raised in a non-Christian family but has been part of the Church since the beginning of 2018. He has a passionate personality which is illustrated in many facets of his life from writing, to sports, food, friends, family and God. Harrison enjoys exploring and grasping different parts of life and discussing them with others. Chat with Harrison further at: harrisonbellve@gmail.com