What Really Matters

You have heard the stories, have probably seen it on the web or TV, somebody famous has given a huge chunk of change to an orphanage in a third world country. Another has gone to Africa and has adopted several children and still someone else has donated their time and money to feed starving people somewhere in the world. All the above mentioned things are good, and I believe that if G-D has given you the means to help folks out you should, but it makes me feel kind of small in comparison. I know that I am not likely to ever be able to afford to go to Africa , never mind giving large chunks of change to anyone, so what are people such as myself ,and likely you, supposed to do? In an earlier post I wrote about George Bailey in the movie "Its A Wonderful Life" and how all the things that he had done in his life had effected others in ways that he had never realized. It wasn't that he had done super colossal things, instead it was all the effects of the small things that he had done that made him a great person and loved by all. As shown in the movie its the small everyday things that we do that can make a difference. Let me give you some examples based on a recent event. When it is 6 degrees outside, with a wind chill of 10 below, and you pass a car broken down beside the road, complete with a family in that cold car, rather then honking at them, because they have the nerve to be broken down in an inconvenient spot, how about stopping to see if they need any help. Or perhaps if you can't stop, driving up the road until you have a signal and then call for help. Or if you come out of your house and you see a car with the flashers on, the hood up and a man desperately trying to make a call perhaps rather then driving away (the car died literally in front of this house) perhaps you could take a moment and let the people use your phone long enough to call a friend and a tow truck, these things may seem like a small thing to you but to the ones who are freezing that little act of kindness could make a huge difference. In all fairness there were a few people who stopped and checked on us, one man pulled his car up and we tried jumping the battery but to no avail. Another person, a woman, slowed down enough to ask if we needed help, but the vast majority drove by us and looked but that was it. We are blessed, however with friends and family who came and froze with us until the truck came, towed our car from the garage to their house, and loaned us a car until this one is fixed. None of them were probably thinking that they were doing anything of any great importance, because they are a humble bunch after all, yet it was these, by the standards of the world anyhow, small things that made a huge difference for me and my family. You don't need to go to Africa to feed people,feeding folks in Africa is a good thing don't take me wrong, but there are likely people right in your town or neighborhood who could use some food. Pick up a couple of cans of soup and bring them to a food shelter or a food drive, you don't have to spend a fortune to make a difference. I have a friend who sold Christmas trees to benefit a homeless shelter, she didn't buy the trees herself, but she did give of her time to sell them. These are the little things that count and make a difference. In the movie "Evan Almighty" G-D, looking a lot like Morgan Freeman, tells Evan Baxter to build him an "Ark" because the flood waters were coming. In the end it was a dam breaking that caused the flood, but because Evan built the Ark many people were saved and a larger environmental disaster was averted but it was the end of the movie that really mattered. It was when G-D says to Evan that if really wants to change the world all he has to do is an "act of random kindness" hence the word Ark. I believe that it is as simple as that. Open the door for someone,give time to a charity, pick up a bag of groceries and quietly give them to someone in need . Give a hungry dog a bone, any thing that you do may not seem like much but in the eyes of G-D and the recipient it is huge. Isa.1:17 JPS "Learn to do good. Devote yourself to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow."