Helping Hand

I'm hoping this will make sense. When I write later in the evening, or close to midnight, whichever the case might be, I sometimes have no idea what I'm saying. What's that? I never know what I'm saying? Okay, you're right.

The other day when we were at the pumpkin patch, yet another thing I need to post about, there was a guy who thought he dropped his wallet. Somewhere.in.the.field. Not that there were tons of people there, but before long every single person who was at the patch was out looking for his wallet. His wife ended up going home to see if he left it. Honestly, I wanted to stay longer to see if it was at home or if he found it, but we had to go after helping look for at least 20 minutes.

Not long ago some lady was walking out of Costco with her cart overflowing…a common site in that place. As she went over a bump, the entire top contents of the cart spilled out into the parking lot. Mom ran to help her, picking up all she could carry, and following them to their car to help load it.

Today, some guy was pushing his car out of the road. As soon as I saw him, some other guy was running to help him.

You may be wondering the connection…no, it was not the guy who lost his wallet pushing his car because he ran out of gas and could no longer pay for it. Good try.

The connection is all of these people, in some way, needed help. And while there are even better examples, these are real-life examples I have personally witnessed. Not only did they need help, people were there to help before they could ask for it.

I often think about ways to help people. It's easy for me, as a stay-at-home mom to get caught up in the daily things, but that is no kind of example to lead for the children I am trying to raise up in the ways of the Lord.

Here's where it gets jumbled, but in my head it makes sense. Just go with me here…

Several years ago I was walking into a fast food place, and a young boy, without prompting, saw me and opened the door for me. I may have even mentioned this before…it wouldn't surprise me because it meant so much for me. I remember thinking, That's how I want my kids to be. When I'm not around, I want them to see a need, a place to serve and just do it.

While we were helping that guy look for his wallet, I explained to Kaylee that someone else's daddy lost their wallet and we were going to help him look for it.

Even if they are not ready completely, I want them to know what is going on.

When we're visiting Adam and he has to go out on a call, I explain to Kaylee that someone is sick or needs help and that Daddy is going to help.

It's important for them to know that not everyone has everything they need. We help those we can. Serve those we can. See a need, and if we can, we meet it. We take meals to people who need them. We donate things when we can.

But, for me, there are times I struggle with this. I have a really hard time when I hear about a need and I can't do anything about it. I have a hard time when I see a homeless or needy person and can't help. If I'm alone or by myself with the kids, for safety reasons I do not ever stop to help anyone. I also have a hard time discerning if someone really needs help, or if it is a ploy.

This wasn't even a way I used to think until we were recently approached by the same woman in multiple different parking lots… The first time we saw her she told us she ran out of gas and needed money to get a little more to get home. We offered to follow her to the gas station, but she declined. She didn't really want the gas, she just wanted money.

So the whole discernment thing is something I'm working on.

I transcribed a sermon that really spoke about this, and soon I'll share some insight I gained from it because this thought/thing/process is definitely something heavy on my heart.