¹⁶Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship …

I can’t move past this verse and want to make the point again.

Bertha tells of how she wanted to claim unemployment benefits a while ago, but for some reason her account had been blocked. The only solution was to pick up the phone and call the people at SARS.

Their telephone lines were down and when the lines were eventually restored, it obviously was an enormous challenge to get through to someone on the other side.

Fortunately, she eventually got through and talked to a real voice on the other side. Then there was the wait for the account to be opened so that she could at last get a little money again.

Two months later the block was lifted.

Bertha phoned the office again and the same man picked up. She gave the reference number and the voice on the other side couldn’t understand why she was phoning, since the account was open.

She said she was phoning to say thank you. He was so surprised and responded: “You’ve just made my month!”

Bertha ended her message to me as follows:

Let’s make one another’s burdens less. Maybe sometimes even carry them or at least help carry them.

Every time I go to town or shopping, I try to give someone a kind word … Then my young man son of 19 asks, as he has done from the age of 8: “Who is that?”

And I have to admit I don’t know.

Here’s another one:

Juliana says that she and her husband like to garden. Their neighbours, however, have a no-nonsense garden.

Suddenly there’s a knock on the door. It’s the neighbour and she hands over a gardening magazine: “We really enjoy your garden and would like to bless you with this little gift.”

In a special way Juliana and her husband give their neighbours a beautiful garden to look at, and the neighbours do not only take, but show their gratitude through a small gift.

That is how it should be and our Father likes it very much. May all of us look for places in our worlds where we can make God smile and make more than someone else’s day!

Scripture
Hebrews 13:9-16

Reflection
Doesn’t this make you feel like doing something too?
What can you do?
When?

Prayer
Father, if Your love drives us, we want to go and make a difference in someone else’s life. I really want to. Please help me see the places in my world and give me the strength and wisdom to do it. In Jesus’ Name, amen.