Helping Hands

As I write this, I am looking at a painting that my first born daughter did when she was 20 months old. It is a finger painting with numerous hand prints all in a swirl of rainbow colors. Her hands were so tiny then. She is 12 years old now. I remember sitting with her as she painted it. She was fascinated by the colors, and amazed at the feel of the paint on her hands. She would put a hand print on the paper, then look at her hand intently. When she was done, she was definitely DONE and wanted her hands cleaned up RIGHT NOW.

So I lent her a helping hand and cleaned her up. She has become one of the most helpful people I know. When bowling a number of years ago, she was very attentive to a 3 year old who wanted to take the bowling balls from the rack and hand it to each of the bowlers. My daughter made sure that, if she was going to be doing that, that she know how to do it properly so that her fingers wouldn't get slammed when the next bowling ball came through the chute. And every time the 3 year old handed her a ball my daughter smiled and thanked her very graciously.

I feel inspired by her in this. I enjoy helping others and always remember to have gratitude for those little acts of kindness that others show me. I think it is important in the balanced functioning of the world for us to lend helping hands and to be grateful to those who do the same for us. And the more grateful we are, the more help is provided. Thus, a prayer of gratitude is one of the most powerful prayers of all.

Blessed Be

Trent