In our weekly Monday morning staff meeting, a different member of the staff leads us all in devotions as we begin the week together. (By the way, just after staff meeting we gather in the hallway in front of the office for coffee time from 10am-10:30am. We welcome anyone to join us so if ever you are in the area stop by!) This past week, Barbara Joldersma shared an excerpt from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together as she led us in devotions. In the excerpt, Bonhoeffer was speaking to fellow clergy but what he talked about is relevant to any of us. He was calling on us to cultivate spaciousness in our lives for the sake of being helpful to one another in the small, concrete, daily stuff of life. He was harshly criticizing those fellow clergy who think of themselves as doing such important work that they do not have time to lend a helping hand when they come across a person in need.
I’ve been pondering this all week and finding a deep resonance in my soul around this exhortation. Here’s a few things I am noticing as I think about the times I have (and haven’t) made myself available to this kind of helpfulness toward others. When I do, I am delighted by the feeling of appreciation that is exchanged. I feel connected to the person I am helping. That connection is as important to me as it is to the person I am helping. I also notice that I feel more open to receiving help too. I get out of the mode of thinking that everything is all up to me and I find myself welcoming the helping hand extended out in my direction. The simple act of slowing down, to step out of my agenda for the moment to step into another person’s sphere, is also a deep blessing to my soul. Conversations happen that otherwise might not occur. All of this strengthens the sacred bonds of shared life.
I ran across a quote by Joan Chittister that brought clarity to my meandering thoughts. She was actually talking about the blessing of shared meals together but I found her words descriptive of these moments of offering help and receiving help from one another in the course of daily life:
“It’s at a meal where all of life comes together: talk, time, beauty, rest, and our awareness of our fascination with people and our need for one another.”1
Fascination with people and an awareness of our need for one another: that’s how I would describe the blessing of helpfulness. Not a bad spin on what might otherwise sound like a pious exhortation to add to the long list of other things we “should” be doing in life! It is also a pretty wonderful way to frame what we are looking to cultivate when we come toward our Thanksgiving Tables as well.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jill
1. Joan Chittister, Listen with the Heart: Sacred Moments in Everyday Life (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2003), 94.