By Katy Mariotti

Who Are Your Helpers?

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link,

“If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.”
Ecclesiastes 4:10, New International Version

I didn’t grow up with cats, but my husband is very much a cat person. So now, we have a cat. I’ve learned a number of things about them that I never knew, like how many different kinds of noises they make and how they like to be pet. I’ve also learned how Very Bad they can be. Our cat has been naughty since she was a kitten. She knocks over cups of water. She climbs curtains. She makes loud noises in the middle of the night.  Once when she was a baby she leaped from the back of a chair and attached herself to my back with her claws because she was trying to catch my braid. Mostly, the cat wants nothing to do with me. My husband is her favorite person and while she ignores me, she won’t leave him alone.

I have also learned that cats sense things. When I was pregnant she used to snuggle with me, like she knew.  And she also seems to notice when I’m sad. I recently was having an emotional day. I don’t even remember why, I just remember that I was feeling sensitive and overwhelmed. And when I had a moment to sit on the couch, the cat came to snuggle next to me. It lifted my spirits.

The Bible often encourages us to help one another and lift each other up. While we should be forever grateful for our loved ones who lift us up all the time, help can come from unlikely places, too, and can be striking when it does. I remember one time many years ago, someone I didn’t particularly care for said, “you look like you need a hug,” and he was right, I did!  Even though he wasn’t my favorite, I’ll always remember that moment. There was also the time I was in a fender bender and a gentleman who I had never met before waited with us until the police came, even though we were strangers.

Who are the unlikely helpers in your life? And how can you be the one to help? Let us watch for those opportunities and be grateful for others who have lifted us up.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado