Do Not Disturb

How did it make you feel when you read the title of this entry? It's the equivalent of someone telling you to leave them alone or asking you to go away, isn't it? But, this is a fairly common thing to see in hotels, hanging on the doors of some rooms. I've put these on my hotel door before, because I needed some extra rest or if I was working on something in my room. As off-putting as it sounds, I know from my own experience that I never meant anything bad by it. Still, the words can look like a wall.

I'm thinking that it's a desire for most of us to not be shaken out of what we are doing. But really, being disturbed can be one of the most wonderful things that can happen. Magical things can come from a chance meeting or phone call, things that can benefit us or benefit others.

I've been looking for someone or some thing to tap me on the shoulder and interrupt me for the last month. I have been focusing entirely on work and on "starting the year right" ever since the holidays and haven't written anything during that time. Now, that's not to say that I haven't thought about it. I've thought about it almost every day, but I haven't been able to break free of the immersion that I have been in for the whole month of January. But, last night as I was driving home I remembered a wonderful book that I read years ago. The thought seemed to come out of the blue, like a tap on the shoulder.

The book is Life's Interruptions - God's Opportunities by Larry Jones, the founder of Feed the Children. I will say that I am so sad to learn that Larry, his daughter and his son have all run into recent corruption issues within Save the Children, but in his beginnings as a missionary his heart was in the right place. In Life's Interruptions he tells of the time that he gave 20 cents to a little boy to buy a meal in Port Au Prince, Haiti and he realized that with so little money for a meal, he could personally make a difference. Through the help of  others that he connected with in the States, he laid the groundwork for a movement to feed hungry children all over the world.

You have to wonder, what can you accomplish by just being open to interruptions in your life, and not shutting them out because you are too wrapped up in the day-to-day, like I have been all these weeks? What miracles can happen in your life by stopping to talk with someone, or listening to a story on the radio? The more that we stop and pay attention (see Paying Attention post in October 2011), the deeper our lives become. Larry Jones didn't plan to have that little boy in Haiti beg him for money. The boy just appeared in front of him. How unfortunate it would be if a life-changing opportunity was right in front of us, but we were too busy to see it!

Let's take the sign off the door and see what happens!