Help is on the Way
There's a sweet little coffee shop nearby, with gorgeous outdoor seating, keeping us socially distanced, yet able to breath in the beauty and the simple pleasure of a cup of cold brew (or tea for me:). But then, as I went to discover how to connect to the world, I mean wi-fi, but you know what I mean, I flipped my mask off and one of my hearing aids fell to the ground, camouflaged by the stones and dirt. I bent over hopeless that I would find it.
How interesting. Yesterday I am singing the praises of the mountains and how I can hear God and the help I find there, and today I am digging in the dirt trying to find the device that will let me hear the world. On many levels I have lost one of my hearing aids and need help to truly hear my own heart and those around me; I'm really not a good listener, though I try so hard I seem to miss the most salient points. But back to the hearing aids.
My beautiful morning at the coffee shop turned into a frantic plea and a pathetic, "I'll never find it," mantra in my mind. Ever have one of those? They are insidiously debilitating! For quite a while I knelt down, searched helplessly and then a kind gentleman asked if I had lost something. I replied from the ground, "Yes, my hearing aid." He immediately began searching with me. I had help. I have such a hard time asking for help, but here it was unsolicited and so necessary!
He came and offered a hand, literally. I found my hearing aid, but so much more. I found that I had been listening so carefully to my mantra of helplessness I almost missed the kindness of an offer when it arrived.
Where are you struggling to ask for help that is needed? Who might you be able to lend a helping hand to?
I can't tell you how joyful, how peaceful and empowering it was to simply say, "I'd love some help!"
Try listening today for a friend's offer of help.
"Against our will He befriends us, and without our knowledge oftener than not."
~ Chrysostom