When I was in high school, I worked at Hollywood Video. If you’re old enough to remember renting movies on VHS, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I loved movies, and working somewhere that allowed me to bring them home for free felt like a pretty great arrangement.
I’ve always loved the way a good story can pull you in. You can know that something is fictional and still find yourself completely invested in what happens to the people involved. You feel something because, for a little while, you’ve allowed yourself to become part of their story.
And I think there’s something interesting about that. We have an extraordinary capacity to be moved by the experiences of other people, even people who don’t actually exist. But sometimes, when it comes to real people and real opportunities to make a difference, we become so consumed with our own schedules that we barely notice what’s happening around us.
And I wonder if part of the reason is that we’ve built lives with very little room to be interrupted.
When Our Schedules Become the Most Important Thing
Most of us are trying to be responsible with our time. We have jobs, families, commitments, and things that genuinely need to get done. We make plans because plans help us accomplish what matters. But sometimes our plans become so important that anything unexpected begins to feel like a problem.
Someone needs help, but we’re running behind. A friend wants to talk, but we’ve already moved mentally to the next thing. We notice someone struggling, but getting involved would complicate our afternoon. And the difficult part is that we can usually justify moving on. We really are busy. We really do have responsibilities. We really can’t help every person who needs something. All of that is true. But I think there’s a question worth asking underneath those realities.
Have I become so committed to my plans that I’ve stopped being available to what God might want to do through me? Because following Jesus isn’t simply about arranging our lives around good priorities. It’s also about remaining attentive to the Holy Spirit when He invites us to do something we hadn’t planned.
Jesus Knew When to Stop
In Mark 10, Jesus is traveling through Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd. As they’re leaving the city, a blind man named Bartimaeus is sitting beside the road begging. When Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is passing by, he begins shouting for mercy. The people around him tell him to be quiet, but he only shouts louder. And then Mark records something incredibly simple. Jesus stopped.
I love that detail because Jesus was on His way somewhere. He had a purpose, a direction, and people surrounding Him who presumably expected Him to keep moving. But He stopped. He called Bartimaeus over, asked what he wanted, and restored his sight.
What’s fascinating is that elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus doesn’t respond to every demand people place on Him. Sometimes He leaves crowds behind. Sometimes He moves on to another town. Sometimes He refuses to allow other people’s expectations to determine His direction. And yet here, He stops.
I think that gives us a beautiful picture of what it means to live with both purpose and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Jesus wasn’t simply reacting to every request. But He also wasn’t so rigidly committed to His plans that He couldn’t respond to the person in front of Him. He knew when to keep moving, and He knew when to stop.
Availability Is Something We Practice
I think we sometimes imagine that making a significant difference in the world requires an enormous opportunity. We think about starting an organization, leading something important, giving a large amount of money, or doing something that changes hundreds of lives. And sometimes God does invite people into those things. But I wonder how much of the impact we’re called to make happens through ordinary moments of availability.
It’s noticing the person who seems discouraged and taking a few minutes to encourage them. It’s recognizing that someone needs help and choosing to do something about it. It’s having a conversation you hadn’t planned or giving generously when an unexpected need becomes clear. Those things may never feel particularly impressive. But I think they matter enormously.
And here’s what I’ve noticed. The more we practice responding to those opportunities, the more attentive we become to them. We begin noticing things we previously overlooked. We become less protective of every minute of our schedules. We start approaching our days with a willingness to be interrupted when there’s a meaningful reason to stop.
That doesn’t mean every interruption is from God. It doesn’t mean you should abandon your responsibilities or feel guilty every time you can’t help someone. It means learning to ask a better question. Instead of simply asking how to accomplish everything we’ve planned, we begin asking, Holy Spirit, what do You want to do through me today?
Putting This Into Practice
Becoming more available to God doesn’t require you to completely rearrange your life. It begins with developing the habit of paying attention and responding when you recognize an opportunity.
1Begin your day with a prayer of availability.
Before you start working through your schedule, take a minute to ask God to make you attentive to the people and opportunities around you. Pray something simple: Holy Spirit, help me notice where You want to use me today, and give me the courage to respond. Then carry that question with you rather than leaving it behind when your day gets busy.
2Act on one opportunity to help someone.
During the next seven days, look for one opportunity to encourage, serve, or help another person in a tangible way. Maybe someone needs a phone call, a meal, assistance with a difficult situation, or simply someone willing to listen. When you notice the opportunity, resist the temptation to immediately explain why you don’t have time. Consider whether this might be a moment worth stopping for.
3Create a little margin for the unexpected.
Look at your schedule and identify one place where you’ve left yourself almost no flexibility. See whether you can create some breathing room. It might mean leaving earlier, protecting an unscheduled evening, or choosing not to fill every available hour. The goal isn’t to become less responsible. It’s to create enough space that when something meaningful comes along, you’re actually available to respond.
I think one of the most beautiful possibilities of following Jesus is that God can use ordinary people in ordinary moments to make an extraordinary difference. And years from now, some of the most meaningful things we’ve done may not be the things we planned at all. They may be the moments when we were willing to stop.
