See the opportunities

It is so easy to become blinkered, only seeing the world one way.

Have you ever driven to work and not been able to remember how you got there? You know you took the same route you always do, but you can’t remember stopping at the traffic lights or going round the roundabouts. It’s become so familiar that you do it on automatic pilot.

Or perhaps you’re buying a new car. You decide to go for something that will stand out a little from the crowd, so you settle on the new Mini Cooper. (There’s nothing like retro to make you feel nostalgic.)

You order yours, and from that moment on, everywhere you look there are Mini Coopers. Why hadn’t you seen them before? Maybe it was because you weren’t looking.

Most of us have a tendency to walk through life blinkered to the world around us. We see what we expect to see - what we choose to see.

We see men as trees walking. We need to open our eyes to see the people, problems and possibilities all around us. Those things we’d sometimes prefer to ignore.

A minister was invited to a party at the home of a well-to-do couple. As he wandered around the plush interior, he overheard a woman saying that the homeless were just lazy and that there was no need for anyone to live in poverty in the UK. He said it was obvious that she’d never had any contact with a homeless person in her life.

As we think about engaging with the community, the first thing we have to be prepared for is to have our eyes opened and our prejudices challenged.

We can be forgiven for thinking that, just because we live in a neighbourhood, we understand it. Or that the people who live around us are just like us. But when we cross the road and make a new relationship, we can discover the reality.

Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Northampton decided to do just that. They looked at the streets around their church and decided to do something to beautify the area. They offered each household a free hanging basket to hang outside the front door.

Through this simple act, they started to get to know their neighbours; over the next couple of years they heard their stories and shared their struggles. Their ministry began to go deeper as their eyes were opened.

What simple step could you take? You might discover that instead of seeing a world full of obstacles, you see that it’s full of opportunities.

How will you see the world? As a place that is resistant to the love of God, or a place that longs to see it shown and shared?

Last Updated 30 November 2010