Everyone has a bad day at some point. It could be random or a predictable outcome of a sequence of events. Whatever the reason and whatever the cause, when a bad day hits, it is tough. I do not have a story that will top your story. There are too many horror stories in our lives to get into a competition about how bad is bad. What strikes me about bad days is that the worst ones come when it feels like nobody is on your side.
Somehow bad events are not as bad if there is a “we” in the picture. While it is nice to have several fighting with you, from experience, I know it only takes one. When one knows that they are not alone, something changes.
I see a smiling child; they are always with someone – a mother, father, grandmother, or sibling. When a child is happen, there is always someone familiar in the picture. When I remember the smiling Indian children that should have little reason for hope, they eyes tell me otherwise. They know hope. They understand the value of friendship and family. They get what we often forget.
When I forget, it is as if I am a motherless child. Life appears dark and impossible! There is no escape, no chance of getting through the impossible. The response always ends up in the same place. “Quick, God, I need your helping hand! The last decent person just went down, all the friends I depended on gone.” (Psalm 12.1)
Life likes to remind me that I am never alone. In the darkest moment, when I cannot see, help is often around me. Divinity offers me hope within. Family and friends step in to walk with me. As I stepped out of a dark shadow recently, I realized that help had been with me all the time.
Life also leaves us with an invitation to make a difference for others. We can be the difference for someone else and in turn make a difference for our self.
Help is always here.
