The Nudge

     
Just about every day, no literally every day, as I sit down to read or write in my quiet space, my best four-legged friend situates herself beside my chair and slips her nose up under my arm and gives me a simple nudge for some ear scratching attention. If that first nudge doesn't work, she persists to not only give me a nudge, but she also adds a paw on my arm. She wants my attention and she intends on getting it! In our own daily lives, we receive those same types of nudges to do the things we are intended to do, but unfortunately many times we aren't paying attention to the nudge that we are receiving.
     Day in and day out we tell people that are in need, "just let me know if you need anything", or we placate ourselves by telling ourselves that said person in need "has my number and they never did call me??" But the nudge to do something to help somebody isn't only relegated to those in our immediate family or circle of friends, no in many cases we see the need glaring at us in our schools, our neighborhoods, in the news, or on some other form of social media interaction. We see it, but we just don't get the nudge. I suppose we are waiting for someone to give us a call and ask huh? Or for God to tell me what He wants me to do or where he wants me to go. Where's our nudge?
     I would suggest to each of us that I believe we get those nudges each day, we just choose not to hear them or we honestly may not realize we just received a nudge. We are waiting on something to hit us over the head, a frantic phone call, an all-points bulletin, or maybe even a natural disaster before we make the decision to get involved. That's what happened in the life of Elijah, he was waiting for guidance from God and he was expecting it to come in the form of some powerful manner, but it just wasn't meant to be that way. First, Elijah looked for God's message in tornado like wind conditions, but no message. Next, there was an earthquake, surely God's guidance would be revealed through something as powerful as an earth-shattering event such as this, nothing. Then came the fire, the destructive force of nature that brings all life to attention and alerts anything in its path of the oncoming fire, but no message from God existed in the fire. No, none of these major events provided the guidance Elijah was seeking, it came to him with a simple nudge. The Bible tells us that after the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, God passed by and provided His message to Elijah through a small, still voice 1 Kings 19:11-13. When we aren't listening, when we aren't seeking, we may be receiving that little nudge to action, but we aren't in the zone to receive what God is sending.
      How do we know when we are receiving a nudge since all nudges don't come from four- legged best paw friends? We have to be asking, seeking, knocking and intentionally pursuing those nudges that are being sent our way today. (Matthew 7:7-12) We walk by more opportunities to help, to get involved, or to hear what we are being called to do each day just because we aren't actively listening for that direction we need to pursue. A simple story from a student about what's going on in their home, a friend or maybe even a complete stranger that looks our way only to have us look away to the things and matters of our self-centered little world. The opportunities present themselves each day and if you are reading this today, you need to be seeking your "to do" list for the day. If you want to convince yourself that you don't have anything to offer, go ahead and try, but let me assure you that you do have something to offer. An ear, your voice, your hands and your feet need to get moving, start taking action, and start making a difference in the world you live. Be alert, listen for that small, still voice because not everybody has a buddy like Essie to nudge us into action!
Coach Carter