As I reflect on new beginnings at the beginning of the lunar new year, I am struck by the consistency that others have had in every great event in my life. If not for them, I would not have had the accolades, accomplishments, and in the end great memories of people, relationships, and outcomes! Whatever the level of my contribution may have been, in the end it does not matter; if not for them, we would have not achieved what became a reality.
The reflections lead me to embrace the following reflections as foundations for the next.
You and I have help. We may not see it until later, but it was and is always there. It comes to life in the reflections of yesterday. One can see in in the notes left by others; the psalmist note still rings true; “If God hadn’t been there for me, I never would have made it.” (Psalm 94.17) One feels it in the music and songs the live on in us. Even when we feel totally alone, we are not.
Help is powerless without our permission to come in. In all things, we retain the right and power to refuse the most powerful help offered by another; hope. In the tangible, while things may improve without our permission, until we give it, the greater story of collaboration and joining together will remain unwritten.
Embracing help means that we will need to let go of our emotions that form barriers. Anger will need to be placed to the side. Hurt will need to be set aside, if only for a time. Embracing is the first step towards accepting what others are willing to give.
Life is more fragile than we can imagine. Life is often shorter than we anticipate. There are moments I have lived with wild abandon. As I look back, I tried to do too much of it on my own. It is in being in and with community that one realizes the benefits of standing together in the gap. Together we stand tall.
