ponderings

it's all up to you.....

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from a young gal. Twenty years old, she has a beautiful two year old son. Times are tough for her. Though she is working 20 hours per week, finances are caving in on her. She is using as many social programs as she can to stay afloat, yet she and her boyfriend are in a hole getting deeper. (Please, reserve your judgement, what she doesn't need now is recrimination.)

She asked if I had ten dollars she could borrow until payday. I asked what was wrong. When she told me, I felt sick inside. No food at home and the food shelf has a one visit per month limit. ONE visit! With a child! She was hungry and sick, her baby had no dinner. Quickly I thought, then replied, "come on over, I'll put together something for you." Gratefully, she agreed. As I assembled together meals to last several days, I pondered. Why? WHY? the disparity? When there are other young folks out there who are planning lavish weddings while only having a thrift store budget- per Hollywood standards, don't you know?!- when there are celebrities who are getting paid literally MILLIONS, when the haves vs. the have-nots are becoming more and more common...then what?

I feel so damn helpless, Lord! What can I do??

Simple. I gave the gal her bag of food, getting a huge hug in return, thanking God that I can be of help...

...and that is the way life should be. If you see a need, by all means, fill it. Don't judge, don't analyze, just DO something! It just may be YOU someday in need, and as the saying goes, "what goes around, comes around!"

Give. Give until it hurts, then give some more. Because giving is always done with love (or should be) and when you give Love away, it just keeps getting bigger, it just keeps coming around, it just goes out farther, the ripples creating currents that eventually reach the other side! The love is enveloping the whole world and no one knows where it began, it's just "there!"

I saw a young gal on the news, couldn't have been more than eight or nine. She said she "wanted to change the whole world!" I chuckled, then I said, "good luck! Start small, girl!" then it hit me...and why not? Why couldn't she? It starts...with just one act...one.At her young age, she maybe knew something I as an adult can't see yet!

Today is a day of new beginnings. What ONE act will you do to create a ripple felt around the world?

May the peace of the Lord be with you--may it be with everyone you meet. You have the gift to give that peace to others.