Apples of Gold

Sometimes we wonder if our lives actually mean anything to anyone other than ourselves and those of our immediate acquaintances and families. Are we just a waste of time?
Sounds kind of somber, but I got to thinking about this when Dian and I were talking one evening and she mentioned that there are times that she gets fatigued listening to callers at her job. Also in my job as editor of the paper, I sometimes reach the point where other people’s issues drive me to the point of distraction and I can only imagine the pressures that a pastor of a large parish must come under, constantly having to listen to people’s problems. There certainly have been times of late where throwing in the towel and retiring a bit early is starting to look
better and better. Load up that big trailer of ours and just head south for the winter bmonths, lay in the sun with the rest of the snow birds down in Texas or Florida, sucking on a long cool
drink. Getting on the links a couple of times a week, riding our bikes anytime we want to and leaving other people with their issues and the cold Canadian winters behind.
But is that what we were placed on the earth for? I remember watching an old movie some time back that asked the question, “am I my brother’s keeper?”
and the conclusion was that, “Yes, you are your brother’s keeper”. We are placed
on this earth to help others, but as in my job as editor of the paper and Dian’s job as a telehealth nurse, the ways that we help are at times so subtle and undetectable and frustrating, that’s it’s hard to realize that we actually help at all.
We like to see big results in our work. The miracle fix, the instant cure, the revelation, the phone call from an admirer and so forth. However, fixes usually
come in micro increments and are akin to watching grass grow, or paint dry. But we have to continue to try and affect people’s lives because there is no way of knowing what small action or what kind word or deed will turn the tide in another person’s life.
The question is, how many lives do we have to affect to make our lives worthwhile? One, two, thirty, a hundred? Is there a quota, or do we only have to affect one person? If we help anyone,
will we ever know that we did, and in what way?
In my position I am fortunate in that I do get the odd phone call of encouragement that lets me know that yes, I did have some effect, or no, I just made someone angry and I need to apologize
and eat some humble pie. But what about others with less public positions?
Are they any less important? Are they less valued and less able to help and influence others? On the contrary, we all influence others in large and small ways. Just because your job is what
you might consider menial, your attitude could have a profound effect on those around you. Sometimes just a kind word or a smile can be a very powerful tool that will change lives.
Treating others with kindness and understanding doesn’t require a great deal of skill and you don’t have to have a PHD to speak a kind word to an elderly person or a child. Others are molded by the actions of those around them and kind words and smiles lead to kind words and smiles. It says in the Bible that kind words are like apples of
gold.
When I think of what effect we have on others, I always reflect back to that old movie that they always show at Christmas, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, staring Jimmy Stewart. In the movie he
reaches a low point in his life and tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, He is saved from committing this foolish act by his guardian angel, who shows him what effect his life has had on the people of the small town he has lived in all his life. It’s a real eye-opener to him.
If it were possible to do that in real life, and we were able to see the direct result of our lives, the reality would come as a real shock. However, that will never happen.
In the meantime, one must continue smiling, speaking kindnesses and just being the best person that one can possibly be and realizing that, yes you are having an effect and yes your smile is
being passed on and your kind words are, “Like Apples of Gold”.