I've decided that starting today, I will make a commitment to becoming better at noticing.  What exactly do I mean?  I'll explain it like this; that coffee shop you go to every morning with that same guy making your same cup of coffee, everyday.  Do you notice when he's having the greatest morning of his life?  Or when he's having the worst day of his life?  Or the kid you sit by everyday in class?  Your boss? Your spouse? The big ole buff dude at the gym?  Do you notice a difference in them?  A difference that possibly could be a connection point between you and them. Do you notice when people around you need someone to celebrate with them, when they need someone to empathize, or when they need an encouraging word?  Is it even possible to see all this in a person? I believe you can, IF you're paying attention! I can’t say I always do, but I want to get better at noticing.    

     In Genesis 40 Joseph comes in contact with the chief cup bearer and the chief baker from Pharaoh’s house. They were both thrown in prison and put under the watch of Joseph.  The bible says they were in prison for “quite some time” when both of them had a dream on the same night.  Verse 6 says, “when Joseph saw them the next morning he noticed that they both looked upset”.  Joseph, later, was able to interpret both their dreams, ended up getting called out of prison by Pharaoh because of those interpreted dreams, and eventually stepped into his destiny becoming the second in command in all of Egypt.  Although there was so much more to Joseph’s process to become second in command, his noticing of the cup bearer and baker was a catalyst to get him there.  Sometimes your miracle may be wrapped up and found in helping make someone else’s miracle happen.

     Take a second to think of all the people you see on a daily, or even regular basis.  We often have opportunities to brighten some of their days but we don't take advantage of those moments because we never noticed their day needed brightening. Sometimes we have the opportunity to celebrate with someone and we miss it because we were to busy focusing on our own "stuff".  We all miss opportunities to impact the world around us because of real circumstances going on in our own lives.  But what if we put our stuff aside for a minute? What if we went out each day to impact the day of just two people?  What if our minds were set on leaving a positive mark on someone else’s day?  One time it may be to celebrate with them.  Another time it might be a little encouragement.  The next time it may be as simple as a smile!  Whatever it might be, may we commit to being better at noticing.  Let’s take some of the focus off ourselves and put that focus on impacting the people around us.