November 9, 2022
Do Boy Scouts Still Help Little Old Ladies Across the Street?: A Prayer
O Lord, do Boy Scouts still help little old ladies across the street?
How about little old men?
I sure hope so,
because
that's what I've been
feeling like lately,
a little old man;
haven't felt
this way
since coming home
from cancer surgery;
came home
a little old man,
weak and wobbly,
a little old man
needing lots of help;
help breathing;
help getting
into bed and
out of bed,
into the shower and
out of the shower,
into my clothes and
out of my clothes,
into a chair and
out of a chair,
into the car and
out of the car;
and help walking,
my Rollator rolling me along;
and help with other things too,
“It is what it is” things;
but
came back strong
(the love and devotion and help of
one strong woman bringing me back);
less and less help needed,
except on Sundays,
needing help
getting off the floor following the Children's Sermon
(a member hauling me up by the hand),
distributing communion (Kitty carrying
my oxygen as I go round and round),
preaching (trusty oxygen pulsing away
at my feet);
but then
something going wrong,
barely making it through
Sunday before last,
a little old man
again,
needing
all kinds of help
again,
not as much as before,
but enough to make me wonder
if Boy Scouts still help
little old men
cross the street.
But the thing is, Lord, it's not just little old ladies or
little old men;
it's all of us,
we all of us
need a helping hand,
because
we all of us are
dependent
on others
from the day we are born
until the day we die;
as infants and children and teenagers too,
dependent
on parents and families and teachers and more;
as young adults in school, in a job, in
the Armed Services,
dependent,
though
like to think
independent
(well, independent, except for tuition payments, room
and board fees, car payments, insurance payments
gas money; or except for having to do what a
boss says; or except for having to obey orders);
if married, if single, if a parent,
if employed, if self-employed, if retired,
if young, if old,
dependent
on so many others,
on so many things,
on so many relationships and institutions and powers;
think
husbands, wives, friends,
employers, employees, companies,
manufacturers, farmers, truckers,
government, economic forces, financial
institutions, health insurance, hospitals,
schools, to name a few;
and if have
faith,
then
dependent
on you;
independence
an illusion.
O Lord, somewhere the apostle Paul says simply that we are to
help one another,
and if he didn't,
he should have,
because
it's what
Jesus meant
when he said that
we are to love one another,
simply that;
and my prayer is
simply this,
that
in marriages,
in friendships,
in relationships,
in neighborhoods,
in workplaces too,
what is found
are people
helping one another,
giving one another a hand,
leaning on one another,
and that
in a culture
in which
fewer and fewer
can be
depended on to be
dependable enough to
depend on,
we would be people
who can be
depended on
to open a door, offer a hand, take someone by the arm to
steady them as they walk (just as someone
steadied me down the aisle a Sunday ago);
simple things,
yet not simple things,
not to those who need such things,
to them, little miracles,
that someone would notice, respond, make the effort
to help all of us who sometimes feel
like a little old man or woman
simply cross a street.
O Lord, answer those who turn to you, depend on you,
need you, as they battle illness or disease, endure suffering,
face death, grieve, struggle to survive;
answer them with healing and comfort and
consolation and strength and peace; and
answer the hungry and homeless and
refugees of this world with food,
homes, and safe havens;
and move us to be an answer to them!
O Lord, doing much better, coming back strong again,
little old man no longer
(not exactly a young man either, but I'll take it);
no illusions,
always dependent,
and so
always thankful,
for love of others,
always grateful
for your grace and mercy, and
always pray
that others can depend on me
as much as I depend on them.
Amen.