Helpless

I can think of a dozen things I'd rather feel than helpless. Give me angry, overworked, stressed, tired, sad, or even bored. Just don't make me feel helpless.

I spent a week watching my youngest stepdaughter lie on our couch, in a medicated stupor because of a back injury she sustained while on her youth group ski trip. A snowboarder plowed into her back as she stood still at the bottom of the slope. She was strapped to a backboard, jostled in a long ambulance ride, then poked and prodded in an overnight hospital stay. All the while her father and I were halfway across the country visiting family, hearing the story through a cell phone.

We were helpless.  We couldn't take her pain away. Once home, she lay on a couch, barely able to walk for a week, depending on help for just about everything. She was helpless.

After almost two weeks of resting, a change of medication, and physical therapy, the change has been remarkable. She will have to work hard and use wisdom, but she's okay. No permanent damage.

I think I have so much power. I make decisions, work hard, cause change, and try to improve lives around me.  But when you boil it down to the bare nuts and bolts, I really don't have any power. I'm helpless. Without health, intelligence, wisdom, money, resources, friends, family, God... I'm not very functional. I'm not even useful. But I'm meaningful.

Even when you feel helpless, you matter. You may feel overwhelmed and completely at a loss, but you matter. Your life matters.

So when you're helpless, ask for help. We all need it, all the time. And life is much more rewarding when it's shared, both in the struggle and the reward. You and your life are both worthy of receiving help.

What kind of help do you need today?


(c) 2011 Sheri Smith Bertolini