By Chaplain Karen Hulsey
‘When by yourself you cannot manage to complete any task, use ALL your strength, and ask for help from a source willing and able to do so.”
A young boy and his father were walking along a forest path. At some point they came across a large tree branch on the ground in front of them. The boy asked his father, “If I try, do you think I could move that branch?” His father replied, “I am sure you can, if you use all your strength.”
The boy tried his best to lift or push the branch, but he was not strong enough and he couldn’t move it. He said with disappointment, “You were wrong, Dad. I cannot move it.” To which his father stated, “Try again.” Again, the boy tried hard to push the branch. He struggled but it did not move. “Dad, I cannot do it” the boy told his father. Finally, his father said to him, “Son, I advised you to use all your strength. You didn’t ask for my help.”
To ask for help and support when we need it is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of wisdom. It is a call for the greater strength that lives in our togetherness. As I share this today, I encourage us all to seek out help either from a friend to listen, a supervisor to advise or a love partner to share a load you feel you carry alone. But above all else, pray for strength, patience and wisdom to face things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can and certainly for the wisdom to know the difference.
