Sharing God's Bounty and Kindness

Sometimes I become a bit annoyed when people say that the world is rotten and everybody is out for themselves. I think those folks are suffering from CEES (Closed Eyes and Ears Syndrome). If we but open our eyes and ears, good people are all around us.

Today, alone, I have seen God work through others. A neighbor called me to see if I knew anyone who could fix her computer. She and her husband are low-income, and in their late 60s. I called another neighbor who does fix them, and he planned to be glued to his home for two days because he had put an ad out to try to sell bits of this and that from computer repairs he had done. He asked if they could bring their PC to him. I explained that she was frail, just out of surgery for a triple-bypass, and her DH has COPD. He said he'd call and try to work something out. I called her an hour later. This man had dropped everything, run over to them, and brought the PC back to his place. Not only that, he was only charging them $20 for whatever he had to do, no matter what it turned out to be, because they insisted on trying to pay him a little something. You and I both know what most people would charge for PC repair. That's just one example.

The gal who called me had previously helped me out. In our mobile home park of over 400 homes, quite a few were receiving free food commodities last year. Our own household was suffering some severe financial hardship. This lady was the only one who called to give me the info on how and where to sign up. Example #2.

Both this lady and I belong to the same group of ladies (just 5 of us) who make things for the homeless, for long-term care residents, and for preemies - we use our leftover yarn for these projects and try to help others while sharing 2 hours of companionship with each other once a week. Example #3.

My middle-aged nephew has a friend who has a brother on dialysis. Once a week, he gets a call to see if he can pick up the brother after treatment and take him home because by that time, the friend is working. My nephew has been doing this, most weeks, for a few years. Example #4.

And that is only the tip of the iceberg. Many folks in my own community help each other.

I also belong to Freecycle on Yahoo and I must tell you about them, tomorrow, maybe. For now, it's enough to know that about a year ago, a neighbor dropped off 8 cartons of candy molds that her neighbor told her to take to a thrift shop. My friend decided maybe I could find a home for them. Over this past year, I have had 3 ladies come, at different times, thrilled to rummage through these boxes. I am down to 5 boxes. Tonight, a woman is picking those up, going through them, and then "free-cycling" the rest. Freecycle is a group that helps you to help others by "free-cycling" things you do not want, giving them to people who really, really want them.

Yep, God is GOOD.

Father, thank you that you have blessed me with eyes to see and ears to hear; help me to always help those you place in my path, and help me to always see others who are doing the same.