WEEK TWO: NEED A LIFT?

No one likes being interrupted. We don’t go through our daily routine thinking, “Man, I hope someone interrupts what I’m doing so I can get sidetracked or distracted.” But we all know that we will come face to face with interruptions on a regular basis (if not daily). Now, most of our interruptions are not catastrophic or earth-shattering. They are things like our kids interrupting a conversation we are having or a co-worker stopping by our workspace wanting to chat when we are trying to get a project completed. They are something that pops up that needs to be taken care of when we had other plans. None of those things turn our world upside down, but we don’t enjoy them either way. And then there are the big ones. Our world is going along fine… then we get word that someone close to us is in crisis. We get that diagnosis that no one wants to hear, or we find out that there is a potential change at our job and suddenly the workday is turned upside down.

For most of us, our interruptions don’t consist of the “big ones” on a regular basis. Most of ours are just small inconveniences… but even those small ones often get treated as big ones. Unfortunately, most of our interruptions involve people (and in particular those people who are closest to us), and because those tend to be the most consistent, they can tend to be the most irritating.

So what should we do? How can we love others when life’s interruptions feel inconvenient (or worse, frustrating)?  First, we need to change how we view them. What if we looked at those interruptions as an invitation from God to do something impactful? What if we started thinking of them as a chance to possibly change a circumstance (and God is giving you the opportunity to be part of it)? Because most of the time, interruptions are actually an opportunity to lift others up.

Jesus was consistently confronted with interruptions. Whether it was a blind man calling out to him, some friends lowering another friend through a roof while Jesus was teaching, or the woman with the issue of blood interrupting him on his way to heal another man’s child… Jesus understood that those moments, although inconvenient, were life-changing for the other person. Jesus stopped, got personally involved and did something that changed the trajectory of their situation.

We may not be able to heal people on our own. We may not possess the supernatural abilities that Jesus had. But we all have enough of the Spirit of God in us that we can stop and make a difference in someone’s life. Maybe it’s a smile or an encouraging word. Maybe it’s just taking time to listen and pray. Or maybe it’s getting involved in a more practical and tangible way. When we lift others, we don’t fall or get lowered, but instead the opposite happens. We stand stronger and taller, and we are contributing to the world we all hope for.