People Power

I am currently sitting in the most amazing batch, on a cold Winter's day in Mangawhai. The fire is burning, making the intently focused faces of my three gorgeous kiddies glow as they watch the evening movie.

I have been so sick for the last few days, peaking yesterday with a very unproductive day. My low point was sitting in tears in the car asking Gavin what time he planned on coming down knowing full well he had a work dinner that night... I had dragged myself out of bed , got the kids ready and took them for a walk and a scooter after breakfast thinking a coffee from the café may make all well with the world. As we reached the bottom of the road it started to pour. We headed back to base camp and swapped the scooters for the car. It took me ordering a coffee through streaming eyes, stuffy nose and throbbing head to realise that at only 9am, I still had a full day to entertain kids away from Auckland's array of luxury rainy-day activities. So I headed home, put my full take-away flat white on the kitchen bench, threw some pens and colouring in books on the table and disappeared under the duvet covers, put to sleep by the sound of laughing and screaming which I later found out was a 'pen fight''.

All I can say is, thank God that my brother and sister-in-law were here and helped me with the kids so I could recover. Then, as I popped three dirty monkeys in the shower pondering what restaurant I could get the quickest dinner from, in walked my knight in shining armour to save the day. Gavin had come down early (I must have sounded dreadful on the phone!) Needless to say, looking the wreck I felt, I was thrown a box of flu tablets and sent to bed at 7pm with the kids. This has left me feeling a LOT more human today and SO much more thankful.

In fact, I started thinking about the people in my life, family, friends and strangers who have been a blessing to my life recently.

This amazing holiday was all thanks to an awesome couple who we don't spend that much time with at all. One day, out of the blue we got told as we crossed paths at a Kindy drop-off, that they wanted to give us some time at their batch. So we booked it in and here we are! In the most AMAZING batch, having a wonderful time that we wouldn't be sharing if not for those awesome, generous people.

A few weeks back I found myself at the mall, which is not uncommon, after a coffee date with my sister, and the kids, also a regular occurance. We had just come from soccer practice and Jed had gone from energetic to boiling up, becoming lethargic and falling asleep on me, Wanting to get him checked out, with a history of febrile seizures, I took my coffee to go and made my way out to the car pushing a trolley (a K-Mart trolley, yeah, need I say more!! Those things do NOT make the list of helpful or useful things in this world!!), a nearly fainting 2 year old in my arms, a 5 year old who didn't quite 'get 'the seriousness of the situation and a shoulder-full of bags. I must have looked slightly flustered as I searched for keys and phone while trying to maneuver my kids and the rebellious trolley out into the pouring rain. A lady came over with such a lovely demeanor (you know what I mean, right? There's the people who come over to ask if you're ok who are slightly condescending and then there are genuinely concerned people). She said she recognized me from being at a mutual friend's house a few months back to which I profusely apologized because I had no idea who she was. She insisted on helping me to my car which I was hugely grateful for, given the circumstances. I never get strangers who know me asking if they can help, but when I do, I am always moved that people can come at just the right time to help and make a bad situation just a little bit easier to deal with.

I am thinking back even further ago to a time when I got some bad news, like literally had one of those curve-ball days. I dropped my daughter at school, as usual. Ran her into singing time, slightly late, as usual. As I turned to leave after apologetically mouthing ''sorry she is late' to her teacher, another teacher grabbed me on the way out. She said that God was going to give me the grace to deal with my day. That was nice, right? Well I thought very little of it. I thought it was nice, but it only became profound after I went through a really rough day, probably my roughest day in years and sat at the other end of it only to remember the words that came back to me. God had in fact given me grace to face a very tough day and a sign in some small way, only noticeable to me, that He was in fact present in everything I was going through. Again, God used someone to totally change the outcome of that situation.


As I think back even further, to last year...for reasons I won't go into, I found myself outside a row of shops, waiting for someone to come pick me up with bags, a car seat, hot chocolate all over my clothes and kids who were being particularly disagreeable. Needless to say it was NOT my finest hour and for no apparent reason except that someone obviously noticed I was having a really bad day, someone came out of the shop and gave me a hug. Like literally came up in a non-awkward way, said they noticed I must be having a bad day, asked if they could help and when I said no I would be ok, they said they were just going to give me a hug. And they did. And they walked away. I was left with teary eyes at the realization that there are actually people who care. That I was blessed enough to come into contact with one such person.

I must admit, in past times it feels like I have been in a position to be the 'giver' if you get what I mean. I have always been the one giving out and helping others. It almost comes as a surprise when someone reaches out to help you, let alone strangers! When I sit down and recount these encounters I am blown away by how powerful people are. So often we focus on the negative, the damage people cause with words and actions. These words and actions can leave us hurt and wounded and that sometimes becomes the focus of our attention. How much more powerful are people who choose to uplift with a kind word or sincere act of help and support? I have been so inspired afresh to have my eyes open for everyday opportunities to be 'that person' for someone else. Here's hoping someone else gets inspired to live life outside their box. What a wonderful world we have the power to create when we do this!