My heart overflows with joy as I remember each person we met in San Francisco and how we were blessed with the chance to serve every one of them. They were beautiful, broken beings longing for hope, peace, and kindness. It was the little things that mattered to them - a prayer, a sympathetic ear, a kind word, a bottle of water. In their brokenness they reflected what we all are: lost without Christ. They couldn't cover their past. All they could do was lift up the broken pieces of their lives and let God create a mosaic.
I am thirsty for an opportunity to go back, yet I know there are people like them right where I am. The brokenness is simply masked. But inside, each person is crying out for hope, peace, and kindness.
Every time God shows me need, and I keep going, I make a choice. Who knows what difference it would have made to talk to that lonely girl or greet that sorrow-filled man? But I walk on, seemingly oblivious to the hurt I've caused them or the blessings we might have shared together had I seized that moment.
So show me, Lord, what I can do right here, right now. Don't let me pass up a single opportunity to shine Your light. Don't let me trade the blessings of loving others for the safety and comfort of my own selfishness. I am afraid to break down my walls and reach across the expanse to those in need. But that's where the beauty is and the beginning of something breathtaking.