Slowly I make my way through the tall weeds and into the ditch that separates the dry lakebed and the dusty field of cotton.  The hour is early as I search for a spot to await the rising of the sun.  In spite of the severe drought conditions the morning air is cool and moist.  The morning mist hovers and hides everything beneath a blanket of foggy dew.  As I climb out of the gully and onto the ditch bank I find myself looking at this cotton stalk covered in dewdrops like costly pearls suspended from a golden chain.

        As I scrutinize the spectacle that materializes out of the mist and emerges from the parched soil I am amazed at the stark contrast.  Like manna from heaven the fog rolls in to provide a refreshing drink to a plant that has been deprived and starved of much needed rain.  On the scorched ground beneath the cotton the dirt is dusty and clinging to the stalks of cotton are hundreds of tiny life giving dewdrops.  Suspended between life and death the cotton hangs in the balance.  Will it survive the drought?  The answer lies in its ability to take advantage of the tiny dewdrops.

        We have a lot in common with the cotton.  We too live in a thirsty world.  Day after day we wait for the rains to come and make life easy for us.  Other people are richer, taller, more talented or better looking than we are and beneath us the ground grows dusty and dry.  Our circumstances are difficult and the road we travel has many obstacles and when we cry out for the rains of change, there is not a cloud in sight.  Will we survive the drought?  The answer lies in our ability to take advantage of the tiny opportunities we encounter every day.

        Don’t wait for opportunities to come your way because they are already here.  Every time a new challenge presents itself that is an opportunity to grow stronger.  Every time you find a new hurdle that is a chance to jump higher and further.  Great opportunities come to those who make the most of the small ones they find every day.  Today, search for opportunities to do good to someone.  Use the circumstances you find yourself in to do something special for the people in your world today.  Wherever there is human need, there is opportunity to do a kind deed.  Happiness is a choice; seize your opportunities and share a cup of cold water with someone today, because everybody you meet is thirsty.

Something to think about:

• We talk about “circumstances over which we have no control.” None of us have control over our circumstances, but we are responsible for the way we pilot ourselves in the midst of things as they are.

• Do that good deed now; you never know how soon it will be too late.

• Small opportunities are often the beginning of great achievements.

• Today is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that comes everyday.

• Weak men wait for opportunities—strong men make them.

• The only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping- stones is the way you use them.

• Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

• The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are.

• There are no great men in this world, only great challenges which ordinary men rise to meet.

• Life’s best gifts are not things but opportunities.

Thankful for my miraculous ordinary opportunities
Rickey Moore