Viewpoint from Captain Marie Burr 24/03/2023
Captain Marie Burr
Corps Officer Balham and Wandsworth Borough
Salvation Army
previously Captain at Great Yarmouth
Give Yourself
“You are so good with people, and I really admire that”. “Your house always feels warm and welcoming”. “I just want you to know that your child was so well behaved in nursery today”
How great would it be to hear things like all the time? I wonder how often you think about saying something encouraging or uplifting to someone else, but you just don’t feel comfortable doing so?
It’s a risk; what if they think you’re trying to butter them up? I suppose you worry that it might sound insecure. Instead, you keep everything inside, and that encouraging word is never said. Perhaps you believe that maybe it will keep for later and have every good intention of sending a card, but it never got written. Time passes and then that moment is lost forever
Of course, it isn’t always just words you need to share, it could be money, skills, or even time, that you possess. It might be that it is as simple as offering a lift to the hospital, helping someone with their shopping or digging up someone’s garden. Or perhaps you have some spare cash you can share with someone who is struggling financially. What a joy to send an anonymous gift!
Think of a time when someone has given you something at that exact time you needed it. An encouraging note, a text message, telephone call, a helping hand, or even a few pounds when you were really strapped for cash. It meant a lot to you; didn’t it? Don’t miss the opportunity to give to someone else
No other time, than the past two years has it been more important to help others, Covid has caused so much pain, struggle and worry. A little-known verse in the Bible is found in Proverbs 3, it says:
“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act” (Proverbs 3:27)
At The Salvation Army we are an army, fighting evil, this means all types of evil. Poverty, hunger, and all injustices, when it is in our power to act, we must, after all what good is an army that does not or cannot fight. We fight by showing God’s love to those around us through our actions and by how we live our lives
Today, I say to you again, don’t miss the opportunity to give to someone else, be the best version of the person God made you to be
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