April 4, 2020
Being Lifted Up
See Lucas? See Louis? Yes. Louis is lifting Lucas up to get ice cream out of the freezer so they can use that milk on the counter because Lucas wanted to make cookies and cream milkshakes.
Sometimes you can’t reach what you want without being lifted up.
This made me think of how everyone where I live is helping each other. It’s like when a hurricane comes and everyone seems to band together and help each other. Those who cut trees up so people can get out of their driveways, those who give water or make lemonade for linemen, someone who shares their firepit or grilled food with the neighbors.
The same thing is happening now. Only instead of being shut down for a couple of days max, we are currently on the third week of shutdown. The end doesn’t seem to be in sight; especially for the young as my daughter’s senior friends are afraid they won’t get to walk for high school graduation.
Look for the helpers.
Look for the need and fill it.
This is how we pull together and make our world better.
This is how we will rise again stronger than before.
Help won’t be a pork barrel stimulus package passed because it included raises for those who passed it.
Help will be from the local community – friends, neighbors, family, churches, local businesses. We will stand up together and help each other as we haven’t before. I see it already in bits.
So instead of feeling helpless alone in your home wasting time worrying about what you can’t control (like the stimulus bill, a virus with long incubation, or the fact that your household just lost 3 of 4 jobs) do something!
- Call your friends and give them an encouraging voice.
- Call a church or community organization and offer to help in whatever capacity exists.
- If you are one of the few with extra, support your local businesses right now by utilizing their services or buying gift certificates for later so they can pay their bills and open up when this is all over.
- Brighten someone’s day (yes, especially if they live in your own home!).
- Pray for wisdom in leadership.
- Text and say “hi! hope you are having a lovely day!” just to do it… and expect a call or text conversation because they realize you care.
We can do these things to keep our sanity and help encourage others. Remember what a great man said after beating polio firsthand, living through the Spanish flu epidemic, and leading our country through the Great Depression… “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” (Franklin Roosevelt)
Instead of just looking for the helpers… BE a helper! BE an encourager!
Thank you for Reading!
Type at you next time,
~Nancy Tart
