Keep your heart quiet, your eyes open

II Thessalonians 2:16-17

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

Today I was reminded by my reading in Daily Strength for Daily Needs not to get so caught up in my own struggles that I fail to see a God-given opportunity to extend a helping hand where I can. We never know what blessings we may have missed by overlooking an opportunity to do something kind for someone in our path:

Oh, when we turn away from some duty or some fellow creature, saying that our hearts are too sick and sore with some great yearning of our own, we may often sever the line on which a divine message was coming to us. We shut out the man, and we shut out the angel who had sent him on to open the door. There is a plan working in our lives; and if we keep our hearts quiet and our eyes open, it all works together; and, if we don’t, it all fights together, and goes on fighting till it comes right, somehow, somewhere.

- Annie Keary (1825-1879)

P.S. the photo is one of the pastures I walk by every day with the dogs; I love that huge cypress tree out in the middle.