because he could only do a little.
Edmund Burke
I was feeling rather reflective today and have chosen the lovely quote above for a comptemplative Sunday afternoon. I have a dear friend that is going through some great personal trials right now. It is difficult to watch her struggling and to see her situation change so much over the last year. My friend is a wonderful, hard working woman. She is working hard, not only at her job, but also to keep her spirits up and she has chosen to take the moral high ground despite the difficulties her situation has placed her in. I will not go into the personal nature of her difficulties here. Suffice it to say that I know she is a good woman and is in her situation because of the mistakes and decisions of others and not because of things that she has done herself. I get very sad when I think of the all the wonderful service her family has done for our family in the past, and that now so much of her family dynamic is changing because of the difficulties they are going through. I have wanted to do something to help my friend out but have been at a loss as to how to really do anything that would be of great benefit to her and her family. I have been a shoulder to cry on and have been a listening ear for her at times, but felt that I needed to do something more substantial. I have been involved in my own financial struggles lately as has most of the country, and I felt that I had no real way to help.
I was soooo wrong. I called my friend one night and offered her some of the fruit that has overloaded my trees this summer. I just could not keep up with the picking and preserving. The fruit was falling from the trees faster than I could get it canned. To me the offer was no big deal. It was simply a matter of me not having the time to can or dry all my fruit before it rotted. But when my friend picked up the bags of nectarines and peaches from my house later that evening, she was so grateful. I told her it was no big deal and then she told me that to her it was a very big deal. I knew things were tight at her house, but I did not know that she had been struggling to even buy groceries. She told me that she was not able to afford to buy fresh fruits and vegetables right now. She and her kids had been living off of a lot of stored canned goods and the deer and elk meat from her son's kills last season.
In looking around her home, I noticed a few things that needed attention. My husband had already offered to cut down a tree that she needed to have removed. I asked her about a broken window and she told me it was on her list but was not a high priority right now because the weather had been so warm so far and that she was trying to save the money to fix it before the snow flies. I had no idea how much that would cost to fix, so I was unsure how to proceed there. She had complained of computer problems in the past and I know how expensive that can be. There, I decided, was a way that I could help. I am a bit of an amateur techno-geek so I offered to do that for her. It took several hours and a call to a friend who was a professional techno-geek, but we finally got her computer up and running the way it should. My friend was so excited. She hugged me and thanked me profusely. I do a little computer maintenance work on the side for pay at times, but that hug and the look on my friend’s face was the best paycheck I ever got. Something that was a matter of a few hours of my time had made a huge difference to her.
We never know how something we regard as a small act can bless the lives of another. I hope that you will have the opportunity sometime to see how your everyday acts can bless the lives of another. It is very gratifying to know that your efforts have made someone else’s burdens a little lighter. May we all be so blessed to have that million dollar smile of a paycheck.
The Gift
by Kay Reynolds - January 2004
I had a gift so precious and I kept it to myself.
I hoarded it, and shared it not, and put it on a shelf.
Then one day I noticed that the gift that once was fair,
Was withered and was nearly lost for lack of loving care.
I took it down and nurtured it and then chastised myself,
That I would keep it better now and with my friends would share.
To my surprise, the gift began to grow, so that I had not room,
Upon my shelf or in my house to contain it's growing bloom.
The gift took on a radiance and I did too I found,
And my friend, struck by its beauty, did soon come around.
She asked to take a portion of my gift to grace her home,
So lovingly I divided it and gave the fledgling mound.
The moral of this story is that gifts that are brought to bear,
Are only valuable to us when we chose to share.
