Little Blue Bottle

It was sitting there, nicely placed as if lain by a gentle hand. Bright blue was its color and as the morning sun began to shine it sparkled just right to catch my eye and lead me to stop. I was on my way to work, a 3 mile walk. Along that walk I encounter so much, from nearly being hit by a car to talking about Jesus with a homeless person. This day was no different. I had yet to encounter my new friend on his way to scrap out his latest cart full of metal, must have been too early for him and it was exceptionally warm for a day in February; other than that, nothing was unusual. 

But this bottle. It was perched on top of beautiful green grass on the edge of Kansas City's Troost Ave. I was mesmerized for some reason, captivated by the sudden moment of clarity. It was this bottle that led my mind to race with ideas for how to better my world. "Why would someone throw that bottle there?" I asked. Just as quickly as I posed that question another came, "Why wouldn't someone pick the bottle up? Why don't I pick it up?" 
There it was. If I was going to do anything about my world, anything about my community, my family, my life, my church it would have to start with stopping, bending, and subsequently picking up this Bud Light bottle thrown out of a car and onto the grass of this beautiful apartment complex the government invested so much money in to help suffering families. Imagine, all it took was me making time to better this very tiny spot in the scope of the galaxy but a big spot in the scope of my view. 

God put me in no other place than that spot right there that morning. Here I was, able to contribute - however small - to the world in which I was a part of. Sure, I could have bypassed it and thought nothing of it. I could have ignored the fact that the trash can was a block away and I'd look pretty silly carrying a beer bottle at 8 in the morning down a busy street. And yeah, I could have said, "Someone else will get it." Yet, what would that have accomplished? I know the answer: Nothing. 
I have the chance everyday to do something. Be it picking up an insignificant beer bottle off a public sidewalk or picking up a kid to make him or her feel loved. There are so many opportunities in a day to make a difference. And they may seem so small that we ignore them, thus getting nothing done. But if you're like me you want things to change with our world, you want things to start changing for the positive. I must tell you as I told myself staring at this little blue bottle, it starts with me. It starts with my actions every single day. So, what do you say? Have you passed a little blue bottle lately? Well, pick it up!