I’m Here to Help

A few days ago while I was at work I was reminded that I don’t need to do things on my own. I was working with an animal in which I had to take some xrays of his mouth and then do a dental procedure afterwards. My patient was already sedated but I needed to get ready to do the radiographs by getting my proper protective gear on, set the settings on the machine and get my patient in the right position. I was doing all of this while holding my patient and making sure he was doing ok. Now normally I would have an assistant helping but it was during a time when one was at lunch and one was helping the doctor with another procedure, so I went at the task on my own. My patient decided at the point I had put him down for a second that he would try and run to the front of the hospital, which made a little commotion. My lovely receptionist heard this and came running. When she asked if I needed help, the first thing out of my mouth was “no it’s fine, I got it”, in which she replied “why are you doing this on your own? Let me help”. I would love to say I accepted right away, but instead I thought about it for longer than I should have, and then proceeded to accept her help. With her help my task went so much more smoothly and I was able to get to the dental procedure that much faster.

I am one who has to take time to process my day. So later that night after the work day was done I thought back to that moment, and had to figure out why I didn’t accept her help quicker than what I did. To be honest it didn’t take long to figure out. Pride was a huge contributing factor. If I was able to accomplish the task on my own it was another feather in my hat. I didn’t need help. Another factor was selfishness, if I didn’t have to spend the time explaining to someone how I wanted the job done, I could get done quicker with that task and move on to the procedure that came afterwards I thought I could be faster on my own. My friend (and my life mentor) showed me the errors of my ways when she accepted my apology (that I gave later) and informed me that we both have this problem in our thinking:

We can do this on our own, we don’t need help

What a joy stealer this statement is. We are not made “to do this on our own”. We were made with community in mind. A family member once told me about a problem with their car. It was something that needed to be fixed but the money wasn’t there to get it done at the shop, so in a conversation with a co-worker the problem was brought up, and much to the delight of his pocketbook the co-worker said he could help and even showed him how to fix the problem. Joy is stolen when we get defensive, when we go it alone, when we rely on ourselves vs. trusting that God will provide. This doesn’t mean we don’t need to put in the work. The provision can come from the people we have in our lives, in the moments we take to talk to someone, in the seconds we take to realize that other people do have problems in their own lives they are dealing with and it may not be about us. Accept the help, accept that people in general are good. Accept that Christ came to give us joy, but it is given when we accept that we need to trust Him. Ultimately my task that I was trying to get done by myself took longer, when I thought I could be faster. Ultimately pride and selfishness stole my joy. Joy was found when help was accepted. Joy is lost when you try and make yourself better than others, when you try and go it alone. Confidence in yourself, in your abilities is one thing, but confidence in Christ and in the abilities, and gifts He gave you is where you will find your strength and ultimately your joy. Use this to help others, it’s a firmer foundation than anything you can give on your own. Until next time:

Be there for others, but never leave yourself behind. Use your gifts and your abilities, but give glory to the One who gave them to you.

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