So far this morning I have had the extremely frustrating experience of trying to navigate a problem on a computer.  The problem is that I have gotten out of practice when doing a few tasks that I found myself thinking that I could do quickly and be done.  Wrong!  After trying to figure out the problem, googling solutions only to continue to experience failure, I retreated back to my office, licking my wounds and plotting my next strategy.

With several tasks to get accomplished today I decided on a two-pronged approach:  start working on something else that I am competent to do AND call for help on the one I clearly am not!

What’s kind of funny about it all is that as I am getting older, I am discovering that I am much quicker to give up and call for help than I would have 20 or 30 years ago.  In those days I would have stubbornly kept going until I had wrestled the problem down to the ground even if it meant investing hours in time and frustration.  Today, I not only accept the fact that I am often out of my league, especially when it comes to a computer issue, but today I am writing a blog post about it!

When I was a boy, I often found myself wanting to do the things I saw my dad doing.  When he mowed the grass, I wanted to push the mower even though it towered over me.  There were so many areas of life that I wanted to “help” and was thinking about how I could do them myself without any help.

When my dad got to the end of his life, I found out how much he needed help to do the simplest things.  What once was his effort to make a young boy feel useful had come full circle.  Slowly, over time, his dependence on me and others was growing day by day.  At first he resented the need for help, just like I have done in the past.  But like me, he eventually came to the realization that he needed help.  Once that huge mental and emotional barrier was crossed, things got better and easier for both of us.  He wasn’t going to fight my efforts to make his life simpler and more comfortable and I wouldn’t have to leave each visit frustrated.

Today, I am facing more and more decisions that leave me with the choice of spending a countless amount of time trying to navigate a problem or asking for help.  Some of them I still stubbornly resist help but others the choice is very easy.  The truth is that all of us are needed, can be helpful, and helped.  Two of my favorite feelings are the joy I get from being to help someone in way they can’t accomplish by themselves and the feeling of joy in knowing that someone valued me enough to come along side me to help me.  I hope you get to experience that feeling of joy as you help or are helped by others today and that you gracefully navigate your journey with each.