With relationship complexities, endless multi-dependent deliverables, and an aggressive to borderline unreasonable deadlines, I willingly admit to being overwhelmed. When one imagines this scenario repeating itself on several fronts, the description that fits is chaotic! In the relentless pressure of trying to reach each goal, I have found myself desperately looking for allies and helping individuals. For one of the most advanced and critical projects, I have found both.
The lessons I have been confronted with include the following.
If you do not look for help you will probably not find it. As close as help has been and is, when I actively looked I found that I had often overlooked helping hands and offers to help. A foundational building block in my life now is to look for the other! Without them, I know I will fail to grow and likely fail to deliver.
Accepting help is an act of trust. For Help to be effective, I have to give it space to live, act, and at times fail. As I have looked for Help, initially I assumed it would come in the way of my choosing. Life keeps reminding me to accept help in the way it is offered. As I do, I find myself seeing the present and future through wider and deeper eyes.
Be open and prepared for Help to act in ways of their choosing. Yesterday it was a helping hand when I thought I was in an impossible situation! I did not instruct; I was consumed in the moment. In that situation he reached out, took action, and in the process did exactly what was needed. Today, in a different setting, help took the lead and made a decision to a question I was afraid to ask.
Old stories have hinted at this model. In one, Help “rebuked the Red Sea so that it dried up on the spot – he paraded them right through! No one so much as got wet feet!” (Psalm 106.9) In my story yesterday, overwhelmed, I did not look or ask. I will now.
