Churches, home-improvement and grocery stores, and perfect strangers housed stranded motorists last week as unexpected snow rocked the South. Hotels opened their lobbies when no vacancies remained.
Truckers welcomed drivers into their cabs for warmth when cars, stalled for hours in traffic, ran out of gas. Teachers spent the night with students in schools when buses and parents couldn’t get them home.
The insensitive or uninformed may mock us for the chaos that ensued for what seems like a modest amount of snow (and question why we and our local governments don’t invest in equipment and supplies we rarely need for events like this), but then you’d miss the beauty that even snow and ice can’t bury:
While Southerners may not have shown off their foul-weather driving skills, they certainly showed off their big hearts.
Tragedy breeds everyday heroes: the policeman who delivers a baby on a gridlocked interstate; the couple who leaves the warmth of home on foot to deliver food and water to the stranded; the principal who remains overnight and plays bingo with a handful of students who can’t get home; families who welcome strangers into spare bedrooms for the night.
A crisis separates the well-intentioned from those who take action.
It doesn’t take a snowstorm, a tornado, or a hurricane to find needs you can fill. My husband spent four days in the hospital last month. The day he came home, my friend Cindy sent a text: Dawn, I’d like to bring over a big pot of soup for y’all tonight if that would help.
Did it ever! It was the nicest thing she could have done. I’d spent four days and nights sitting in the hospital with my husband (who’s fine, by the way), and we all needed a home-cooked meal.
Two weeks ago Cindy’s father had open heart surgery and he didn’t respond well to anesthesia or his medications. It’s rough on the whole family. When he leaves the hospital, he’ll stay with my friend and her family for six weeks of recovery.
To Cindy—who’s trying to take care of her daddy, her family, and direct a one-day-a-week private homeschool program—this probably feels like a 17-car pileup on I-285. Another friend coordinated a meal schedule through Take Them a Meal and I had the chance to return Cindy’s favor by delivering a pot of soup to her home.
Most people won’t tell you what they need. Maybe they’re too overwhelmed to think about it or maybe they don’t want to impose on you, even if you ask what you can do to help. Just do something. Offer to take your friend a meal; to watch her kids; to drive her to the hard appointments. Whatever she needs.
How can you be an everyday hero today?
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by Dawn Camp, My Home Sweet Home
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Dawn,
I’m proud to be a southerner and big hearts we do have :). I think you summarized it well, that in order to be an every day hero, we need to DO something. Pick up the phone and call, make a meal, swoop in and whisk a friends kids off to Chic-fil-A…whatever it is that you think will help, just Do it! Sounds like a Nike commercial, but heroes take their faith beyond prayer and put it into action. May we all learn something from the big hearted southerners who did what they knew they could do! Thanks Dawn.
Blessings,
Bev
Amen, Bev! I heard a local radio program today that encouraged listeners to call in and share stories of the wonderful things people did during the storm here in Atlanta. Also, they said crime was down (and a lot of times it goes up in these situations). I think the South handled themselves well, if not always their cars. 🙂
Having just experienced a weeks worth of extremely challenging days with some distant relatives, I support your philosophy here. God can use us in any situation even if we are unaware. My brown-eyed-handsome-man, (hubby) and I are empty-nesters now. I do remember the challenges of raising a family and how swiftly those years pass. Sounds like you are doing great. Breath deep and keep holding on!
Yes, God can use us in any situation. Just look for it and be willing, right?
Love this! May we all keep our eyes open to see the needs and sensitive to the Spirit’s voice leading us to be His hands and feet.
And I love this! Yes, be His hands and feet!
I have always LOVED doing for others. It’s how my Mama and Daddy taught all of us kids. However I have advanced stage cancer and I have always been a very independent person. I can’t tell you the amount of people since September of last year when I found out that have done so much for us! From dinners, to child care, taking me to treatments and so much more. It has been hard for me to allow people to do things for me because I have always been in control. I know this is God’s way of teaching me a lesson that I am never in control of anything that I do! It’s amazing how big peoples heart can be to reach out to help others! I hope if God allows me to be healed that I can turn around and help others again whenever they need it!
~Sarah~
Sara,
I pray that all will be well……
Penny
Thank you Penny! One day at a time sweet Jesus! 😉
Sarah, I’m thankful for those who help you and for your desire to help others when you’re healed.
Sarah,
Prayers for complete healing. May God swoop down and cover you with peace and contentment. Praise God for loving friends who come to assist you.
God Bless 🙂
Another idea..when my son and DIL were in the hospital having third child I watched the other two children. I had the boys make dinner to take home so there would be dinner for tired mom and dad. It was a very easy dump type pasta casserole,salad,rolls and cookies for desert. This was a way for them to learn to give to others and to cook with grandma!
What a blessing to everyone involved and a bonding experience with your grandsons. Instilling a servant’s heart is a wonderful thing.
Love this post! As a Minnesotan, we do poke fun at other states when they close down for what we would call a dusting. But you are right: the stories I’ve heard about people helping people have been amazing, inspiring, and encouraging! Perhaps MN is missing out 🙂
Thanks for your lovely reminder words!!
I never thought of that angle: the states who are prepared to handle the weather miss out on some of the blessings. 🙂
I love your post Dawn and thank-you so much for sharing it,
Recognizing that the simplest of gestures can mean the most @ times is really what its about regardless of the situation…
I have many people to be grateful for that have extended their kindness to me over the years. I am going to try even harder to reach out…..to help others.
Penny
Oh, Penny, those simple gestures can truly mean a lot. Thank you for your willingness to help others.
We all What’s App nowadays. Or see people in person in ministry and bond as the years go by. I would not think me a hero anymore. Used to be for my country. Now I just stick real close by the HERO HIMSELF. Christ JESUS our LORD. The safest place to be. In HIS GLORY and HIS LIGHT.
Heroes do come in all sizes, and sometimes they come with soup and tea. Or hugs. And especially love and prayers. Thanks for sharing this.
Shanyn, yes, sometimes heroes come with soup and tea. Love this! 🙂
Thanks for the challenge to find ways to be a hero to others in the everyday moments of life. Tomorrow I am going to be on the look out for how I can serve and help others.
Alicia, I’d love to hear what opportunities you find!
Thanks for the challenge to find ways to be a hero to others in the everyday moments of life. Tomorrow I am going to be on the look out for how I can serve and help others.
I am one of those “heroes” you talked about. Although I don’t consider myself a hero–just a Christian doing what Christ would do.
Most times I hear of someone in the hospital or just coming home I make a meal. One time a good friend’s hubby was coming home from hospital and I rushed home and made them a meal of chicken, mashed potatoes, beans and rolls. Took it to their house and insisted they take it. They were grateful to have food to eat.
In the past people have helped me out and now I feel it is my turn to repay them, so to speak. l like to think of it as “Paying it Forward.:
Blessings 🙂
When we went through my son’s illness and death, one of the things I learned was the act of showing up. So many people reached out by sharing their presence with us. To be there. To offer themselves and nothing else.
Such a valuable lesson.
Sara
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