Two years ago my left hip broke, and it has not healed well. I have to use a walker.

Many people have helped me wheel groceries to my car and put them in the trunk. Teenaged boys at church have lifted my walker into the back seat of my car.

I have sometimes said, "I have never appreciated help so much as in these last two years." A young father with one toddler in tow and a smaller child in his arms helped me through a door. One day, when someone with her arms full of packages held a door for me, I said, "I should be helping you!" We exchanged smiles.

Then I read: "And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others …" (1 Corinthians 12:28a NIV). "Those able to help others!" I paused there.

I'm thankful to God that I can help others too, by using my computer, for instance. I can do mending for my niece's large family, and I can host a little weekly Bible Study around my kitchen table.

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ," wrote Paul to the Galatians (6:2). What law? Can Paul mean Jesus' words, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12 NIV)? Or maybe Jesus' words at John 13:34? "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (NIV)

Some of those who are most-burdened and in need of love are possibly those whose plight may not be known to many: the young couple in domestic struggle awaiting marriage counselling, the people in seniors' buildings suffering loneliness and pain, the family with an ill young child, people in places of political conflict living in fear of gunfire …

Can we do anything greater to love people in distress than first to carry their burdens to God in prayer? Then let us be up and doing according to His will, offering earthly help whenever possible.

Prayer: Lord, please be mightily with those who suffer in any way. Be with them to heal, to comfort, to teach faith and patience in tribulation, to show us how to love sacrificially especially those in distress, even as Jesus loved when laying down His life to save us. In His name, we pray. Amen.

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