For 18 months, I ran past a tan colored tail-end of an extension cord. A 10-inch piece of cord lay in the street beside a stop sign at the edge of an elderly person’s yard. For the first two weeks, every time I saw it, I thought it was a snake. My heart would jump, I’d leap into the air, and then remember it’s just an extension cord.
Soon I became judgmental. Why in the world doesn’t someone who lives around here pick it up?
I left it.
For 18 months.
It never moved.
Neither did I.
It stayed there in the same spot on the side of the road for a year and a half.
Until one day, I took a leisurely walk and the garbage cans were still sitting on the side of the road after being emptied that morning. I picked up the cord and nonchalantly tossed it in the trashcan.
The conditions were right.
I wasn’t running. I wasn’t riding my bike. There was a trash can. So I picked it up.
Has anyone noticed it’s gone?
I doubt it.
Did anyone notice it was there in the first place? Maybe a few people walking by.
I noticed because I was in a position to notice.
I wasn’t flying past in a car. I was moving slowly enough to see it.
But for a year and a half, all I did was notice, assuming someone else would do something about it.
What good was noticing without action?
I never wanted to stop my run or bike ride to pick it up and carry it the half mile back to my house.
How inconvenient.
It took the conditions being right to take action.
The noticing.
The walk.
The trash can.
Last week, I read Jonah. Sometimes I read scripture, I take it in, and move one. Other times, I feel compelled to sit with it. To pay attention. To notice more.
That’s how Jonah felt this time.
From God “appointing” a great fish, “appointing” a plant, and “appointing” a worm, to Jonah attempting to flee God’s presence – as though such a thing were possible – it slowed me down. The words beckoned me to notice.
God saw people. Jonah saw enemies.
God loved. Jonah ran.
As believers, as people who desire to love others well, maybe we simply need to notice what many walk past.
Because without action, nothing changes.
The kiddo whose anger says more than words ever could.
The teenager who plasters a fake smile on her face.
The momma in the grocery store holding back tears – not because of a torrential life-storm that preceded our encounter, but because the weight of ordinary life feels almost unbearable.
The single dad who feels in over his head raising pre-teen daughters.
The widow who hasn’t heard her doorbell ring in weeks.
The friend whose, “I’m fine” fools no one.
God noticed an entire city.
Jonah noticed his own comfort.
How many times have I noticed? Felt the Holy Spirit move, ached inside, and still done nothing because it was uncomfortable. It was inconvenient.
What good is noticing if I keep walking in the opposite direction?
What if we returned to the things we noticed?
How many things has God placed in my path simply because I’m in a position to notice them.
And if I’m in a position to notice…maybe I’m also in a position to do something about them.
What have you walked past?
Maybe it was a conversation you needed to have.
A text you needed to send.
A meal you needed to deliver.
A child who needed your attention.
A friend you’ve been meaning to check on.
Eighteen months is too long to wait. Sometimes 18 seconds is too.