Just over a month or so ago, my 'news junkie' husband was reading the newspaper online and made a comment about a farmer in a neighboring town just to north of us loosing his barn to a barn fire. My heart ached for this person as I can only imagine what that must feel like. I asked a few questions and as he was giving me the answers I realized that this person was a dear friend of my brother-in-law whom I'd met briefly at a fair a few summers back. That realization made an already tragic situation even worse, it was just a few years ago this man and their young daughter lost his wife to cancer. This broke my heart. I got on the phone to my sister and told her to let this man know if there was anything that I could do to help please let me know! I knew I could not replace the items he'd already lost, but I might be able to help in other ways, turns out I could! He called and asked if I be willing to can some of the things from his garden. Absolutely! His sister dropped off the items on her way home one evening and they were canned that night. I called and told them they were ready and would drop them off on my way to the children's piano lessons and brought home another couple baskets of tomatoes. It felt really nice to be able to help a fellow farmer and I never expected anything in return. My sister called me this afternoon and told me about a benefit dinner the historical society, whom he does much work for, was hosting in his honor and asked me if I wanted to attend. Yes! I'd never attended anything like that before but it was for a great cause so I decided to go. Well, my son and I were the only ones who could make it but we just returned and I'll tell you it was a wonderful sense of belonging and such support for this hardworking farmer. The dinner was simple and humble much like the man for whom the benefit was for, but the love, generosity, neighborliness, and support for this man and his family was such a blessing to see and feel. I'll tell you, I never expected anything in return for my willingness to help, but a renewed faith in humanity is what I received. I encourage all of you tomorrow or the next day or the day after that to go do something for someone else and expect nothing in return and experience the blessing that that is. I'd love to hear what you did, if you want to leave a comment and tell me, if not that's fine too. But please love your neighbor and do it because you can.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
love your neighbor
Just over a month or so ago, my 'news junkie' husband was reading the newspaper online and made a comment about a farmer in a neighboring town just to north of us loosing his barn to a barn fire. My heart ached for this person as I can only imagine what that must feel like. I asked a few questions and as he was giving me the answers I realized that this person was a dear friend of my brother-in-law whom I'd met briefly at a fair a few summers back. That realization made an already tragic situation even worse, it was just a few years ago this man and their young daughter lost his wife to cancer. This broke my heart. I got on the phone to my sister and told her to let this man know if there was anything that I could do to help please let me know! I knew I could not replace the items he'd already lost, but I might be able to help in other ways, turns out I could! He called and asked if I be willing to can some of the things from his garden. Absolutely! His sister dropped off the items on her way home one evening and they were canned that night. I called and told them they were ready and would drop them off on my way to the children's piano lessons and brought home another couple baskets of tomatoes. It felt really nice to be able to help a fellow farmer and I never expected anything in return. My sister called me this afternoon and told me about a benefit dinner the historical society, whom he does much work for, was hosting in his honor and asked me if I wanted to attend. Yes! I'd never attended anything like that before but it was for a great cause so I decided to go. Well, my son and I were the only ones who could make it but we just returned and I'll tell you it was a wonderful sense of belonging and such support for this hardworking farmer. The dinner was simple and humble much like the man for whom the benefit was for, but the love, generosity, neighborliness, and support for this man and his family was such a blessing to see and feel. I'll tell you, I never expected anything in return for my willingness to help, but a renewed faith in humanity is what I received. I encourage all of you tomorrow or the next day or the day after that to go do something for someone else and expect nothing in return and experience the blessing that that is. I'd love to hear what you did, if you want to leave a comment and tell me, if not that's fine too. But please love your neighbor and do it because you can.
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I know we've been in a position, after a bad accident, to need help from our neighbors. You can never repay that kind of kindness, but I'm sure he's more grateful than you'll ever know. After losing everything in the barn, it must have brought him a lot of comfort to save the contents of his garden, with your help. What a great post. Our thoughts are with him.
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