The broader leadership was talking about ways to say “thank-you” to the staff and their hard work. As simple as it sounds, an invitation to the corporate family to come out for a hosted day in the park with games, bouncy castles, and managers serving food had the most positive response. People respond to others who care. People appreciate a thank-you with content.
Life is busy. There are deadlines and deliverables in your life and mine. They often consume the best that is within us. Our most energetic time is giving up to work. The waking hours when we are alert, attentive, and interested in more than ourselves is often the time when we are with the company. Those we love come second.
Life is filled with conflicts. Simplicity is something we need to reach for. It rarely comes naturally. Describing a problem in many different ways is easy. Giving a short, simple explanation takes work. Balancing the competing demands is problematic. Following simple mantras to determine how one spends one’s time takes great strength.
Life is often confusing. Few know everything. There is always one problem in life that one knows s/he cannot answer. Many others fall into the “I think I might be able to answer but I am not sure” category. We know we need help. The source of help can be one more point of confusion.
Having someone care, helps. When help is supportive, encouraging, and non-demanding, I see it as Hope. Hope makes no demands; it merely offers to be present. Hope does not burden; it makes everything lighter.
I find that a simple blessing or idea often expresses the deepest care. In an old example, “With dawn about to break, Paul called everyone together and proposed breakfast: ‘This is the fourteenth day we’ve gone without food. None of us has felt like eating! But I urge you to eat something now.’” (Acts 27.33) Recently, two phrases have stayed with me. “I am here if you need me.” “If I can do anything, pick up the telephone.”
Care to Hope.
