Courtesy of Wedding Window

Sunday, June 21, 2015

It Takes A Village

You may have heard the expression "It take a village to raise a child".  In fact, I used that phrase just this morning in regards to my own children.  As I went through the day, that saying just kept going over and over in my mind.  I\"ve come to realize that it can pertain to many aspects of our lives, not just in raising our kids.



We\"ve also heard, time and again, that we should help others... that we should show care towards our fellow man (or woman).  Now, let me stop here and say that right now, I don\"t have anything specifically that I need help with.  But I have in the past... oh man, yes I have.  Case in point:



Two summers ago, I just could not get my lawn mower to work.  I\"m sure many of my friends heard my sob story, over and over that summer.  I like to think of myself as fairly self-sufficient, but geeze... that sucker about put me over the edge.  Try as I might, it just wouldn\"t work.  And that meant that I had the. worst. yard. in. my. neighborhood.  Hands down.  It was extremely embarrassing. 

And it was frustrating.  Oh, so frustrating.  As someone that is both the man and the woman of the house, and with limited funds, I was so overwhelmed.  I felt utterly helpless.  Today, as I rode my really nice John Deere mower (thank you mom!), I thought about how nice it would have been to have came home two summers ago, and to have found that someone had been by and mowed my yard, completely out of the clear blue, as a surprise, because they simply felt like it.  I\"m here to tell you, I probably would have burst out bawling like a baby in appreciation.   That being said...



I wonder how many people out there are like me.  How many need their yard mowed because they have no mower?  How many have branches piled up in their yard because they trimmed their trees and have no way to haul off the cuttings? How many people have a broken window that they need help replacing?  How many have a car that needs the oil changed and they can\"t afford to take it somewhere?  How many people have an electrical socket that doesn\"t work and they don\"t know how to fix it?  How many need stuff put up into their attic but they can\"t lift it? How many need a piece of furniture moved?



How many?



It\"s not just the single people.  There are many that work two jobs and just don\"t have time.  There are some that are too sick to do the household chores.  Some people are too feeble.  And surely, there are some that just don\"t know how to do something.



Myself, I\"m not handy.  I couldn\"t change their oil, or haul off their branches.  But I could organize their closets.  I could clean out a shed or garage for them.  I could help them balance their checkbooks or set up a budget.  I could help them have a garage sale. I could do their grocery shopping.



What could you do for someone?  Just imagine, if each one of us did one thing ever so often for someone else, how many things could we actually accomplish for others?  And then, what if they paid it forward to someone else? How much joy could we bring to someone that feels overwhelmed, or is sick or simply frustrated because they can\"t fix their weed eater.



You know... they aren\"t going to ask you. Or me.  Even if we make a blanket offer right now, "Let me know if you need something, blah blah blah".  I\"m telling you, from experience, they aren\"t going to ask.  They aren\"t going to call you.  You (and I) are going to have to ask them, over and over again.  You may have to ask something specific.  "Can I come over and fix that broken window for you?"



It takes a village to raise a child, but I tend to think it takes a village to simply make it through this life...



Friends... let\"s make a change.