Thank God for people!
SOUND THE trumpet loud and clear again and again until the message is riveted in our ears – ‘no man is an island, no man stands alone ...’ Embedded in this assertion is the reality that however self-sufficient we may pride ourselves on, those telling moments come when we are impelled to turn to our neighbour for help! It behoves us, therefore, to dutifully ‘live good with others’. In other words, ‘love your neighbour as yourself and be willing at all times to do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. Yes!
I woke up at about 2:30 one morning (some three months ago) to discover that I had a critical medical emergency beyond my capacity to handle. I needed help! After personal prayer, I called a prayer partner for backup. It was now time to go to the hospital and (phew!) I couldn’t drive myself. I needed help from someone else now! My household was alerted and within minutes, I was transported to the hospital. Swift action was needed and the medical staff on duty was equal to the task. Thank God for people!
Surgery was recommended and promptly scheduled. Amid excruciating pain and misery, I just couldn’t help thinking of how ‘fearfully and wonderfully’ God made the human body and how He equipped mankind to help set it straight in a physical crisis. Yes, He could have healed me instantaneously, but He chose another pathway to my wellness – demonstrating, in no uncertain manner, that we all need one another as human beings. Isn’t it therefore imperative that we discard selfishness and stand-offishness and embrace other people – now?
INTERCONNECTED
Popular expressions like ‘self-made man’, ‘independent man’, etc., are ‘bad words’ in the human vocabulary. They misrepresent the Creator’s intention while dismembering our understanding of our sense of being. Despite our ethnicities, philosophies, religious and cultural orientations, etc., we are interconnected ... interconnected from day one! This explains why the pain of a stranger who gets hurt in the North Pole is felt by another stranger in the South Pole ... connecting the dots?
It was this interconnectivity which caused Doctor B some years ago to risk his life one stormy night to transport my father-in-law to the hospital in order to save his life in an emergency situation. Wow! Yes, wow!
A few weeks ago a neighbour from New York saw in this column where a single mother needed financial help and wired cash for her. Why? This neighbour understands the interconnectivity of humanity. And that’s how it is the world over – all those social services organisations where multitudes volunteer their services on a daily basis understand and are motivated by the common thread which links us all. The little lad at the traffic light who gladly offered to ‘gi yuh a wipe’ after I politely told him I had no cash to give him that morning, also seems to be aware of this thread.
Reinforced by love, this thread empowers us to live and love like no other creature on this planet can!
Let’s give thanks for interconnectedness as you join me in singing my latest composition:
When I connect with someone as I pass along
When I connect with someone with a word or song
When I connect with someone, though wrong I’m living by the Maker’s plan Happiness for everyone Yea sing along, sing along...