A Little Help

I think, when it comes to our hands, one of the greatest things we could begin to do is to raise our hands, and to admit that we have a need.

Josh Loveless

Epilogue pt.2

If we hear of someone's need, we tell them we'll pray about it. What if we are the answer to that prayer?
I've probably said it before, but love is action. Love isn't empty words that tumble out of our mouth without any real care or concern. "I'll pray for you" or "I hope things get better." In some situations, pray is all that necessary, or all that you can do, but other times, if we really think, we can do something to help. Maybe it won't help the specific problem, but surprising a person with a card or little gift can mean a lot. Spending time with a person may be the encouragement they need. Something, anything, to show you care.

Needs are needs, but I know I'm bad a qualifying things. I'm unwilling to ask for help when a need is a result of my own poor decision making, or if I see it as something I should be able to handle. I get overwhelmed by life sometimes. When the dark days come I struggle just to do dishes and laundry. Sometimes med changes have side effects that make being awake almost impossible, so go to work then come home and crash. But then stuff doesn't get done, laundry doesn't get washed, trash piles up. But come on, I'm 24(ish), I should be able to work a 40-hour week and keep up with housework, right?

I think sometimes we're all "the least." We all need a little help sometimes. Jesus didn't qualify. He never addressed why these people were hungry, sick, naked, or in prison. He simply commanded that we help.

We say in our African idiom, ‘A person is a person through other persons.’ The solitary human being is a contradiction in terms. I need you in order to be me as you need me in order to be you. We are caught up in a delicate network of interconnectedness. I have gifts that you don’t, and you have gifts I don’t–voila! We are made different so that we may know our need of one another. The completely self-sufficient human being is subhuman. Thus diversity, difference is of the essence of who we are.
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu