Excepting Help

            Christmas is over and I needed help to get through it. So many expectations and disappointments swirl around my head. The help I requested was both physical and spiritual. My kind husband came to my aid as I prepared two celebratory meals. My daughter and son did clean-up. Getting help is great! Throughout the month of December I received emotional help as friends allowed me time to express fears and weaknesses in my very soul. That is new to me. I haven't been comfortable letting my weaknesses hang out. My upbringing taught me to be physically strong enough to do what was required. The weak ones needed the help. Perhaps going through a world war created deeply embedded protective shields against weakness.

  What I am just now catching on to is the idea that if I don't accept help because it is a sign of weakness, then when I am giving help I am judging my recipient as weak. Hmm… Could I be putting myself above others by being the person who gives help so willingly. Not a flattering notion but I can't fight fault with the reasoning.

   My Heavenly Father gives whole-heartedly, all the time. He tells us through the words of His Son, that he would like to give us all that He has and is. Is he judging his children as weak? Undoubtedly we are. But, really the atonement is an essential need the Father has if he is to bring to pass his work and glory. That was given by His Son. Those times He introduces His Son to mortal beings, in the scriptures, he acknowledges, by implication, receiving that help. I feel better about help. It connects us to those we love and come to love through their offering of help.