Tags
community, helped, helper, helplessness, interdependence, patience, serving, sick, Thanksgiving, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
I’m looking out at serious snow this morning…as promised by meteorologists whose forecasts seem to be more frequently correct these days. Perhaps their instruments truly are quite improved. They couldn’t have missed this one though. It appears that the storm is affecting most of the Midwest all the way to the East Coast. And the flu remains rampant.
At our house, we’re taking turns being server and served. Falling one at a time, even as we are very careful to isolate ourselves, it seems the germs are winning. I was second to succumb to some iteration of flu-like symptoms (although not serious) and am still (for the third day) relegated to my bedroom. It’s difficult for someone who is normally so healthy to hear the scraping of a shovel on our sidewalk and not be able to help with snow removal – or just taking the trash out for pick-up day.
It’s probably good to have an occasional experience of helplessness, allowing others to care for us rather than the reverse. Good for humility and a sense of gratitude, but difficult for those whose orientation is toward service. More to the point for me is the willingness to admit the need for interdependence when I would much rather be the help-er rather than the help-ed.
So today is a day to pray in thanksgiving for the blessing of community, to remember those who have no one to care for them and to behave myself by resting and practicing patience until the sun shines again – inside and out.
