Reflection for December 16, 2014

"And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them."(Acts 3:5)

Asking for help is probably one of the hardest things to do.  We Americans pride ourselves on our ability to pull ourselves up by our own boot straps.  To ask for help is a sign of weakness.  To admit to having needs is actually frightening.

The reality is all of us have needs of some kind that we cannot satisfy or fix by ourselves.  The cripple who fixed his eyes on Peter and John, had help being in the right place to even encounter them.  He also had a pattern of asking for alms and he probably got some every time he was there, but certainly not enough to make him no longer dependent on others.

In the encounter with Peter and John, he expects the same things a couple of coins at the most.  Instead he gets something more.  The ability to stand up and walk. The joy of a changed life.

Sometimes what we are given is not always what we ask for.  Sometimes we are given things we didn't even dare imagine could happen.  But sometimes we are blessed with an encounter that allows us to see another possibility, to get a hand up that helps us get on with life.  Not a hand out that keeps us stuck.

And we are also called to be like Peter and John, we are asked to give what we have.  Sometimes that might be spare change, but how much more valuable is our time, our compassion and perhaps ourselves in the service of others.

Blessings,
Ed