Have you ever had the experience of someone out of your past reaching out to you unexpectedly?
It can be a call or an e-mail or a chat or even a letter - out of the blue. It can be surprising at first - after all, weeks or months or years or even decades can have gone by. As the conversation goes on, you begin to realize that the person reached out to you not because of a need they had - a situation, an encounter, a series of words - and the first person they thought of that could help them is you.
Do not be so concerned about this, suggests Nektarios in the above quote. Like a candle, you have somehow lit a way for them in times past and they believe you can do so again.
In our darkest hour we search for that which can comfort and illuminate, not necessarily that which is front and center. The humble remember that to be of great use to others does not always require being a constant focus of attention.
Or as past experience has shown me a down and out soul that is seeking a "loan" from you to help him carry on until he's "back on his feet".
ReplyDeleteBut as my Uncle Paul taught me, loaning to friends should be treated as a gift as seldom repaid and often the death of that friendship in any case.
Aside from that ill thought, I've spoken to many folks over the decades and comforted the dying often enough in my chosen career.
Those events are often as soothing to myself as the seeker.
Michael, for whatever reason I have never been approached for a loan. We have offered other forms of support, but never with the expectation it would return.
DeleteThe ability to be a candle in the darkness for another is a rare a gift for us as it is for them, as you suggest.
I have done the reaching out but rarely have been reached out to.
ReplyDeleteEd, your comment makes think of my own situation - and to be fair, I cannot think of a lot of "reaching out" in this sense I have done, perhaps because I have a cornucopia of friendships to fill that gap.
DeleteI can't recall this happening, either someone from my past reaching out or me contacting someone from my past. I've never even been contacted about my high school reunions. I'm sure moving around a lot contributes to that. Not to mention never having been much of a socializer.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, interestingly I have had one of two versions. The first is where people reach out after suddenly finding each other on social media. In the case, the conversation always seems to die after the inevitable "catching up" occurs, as it usually becomes clear that we have little in common currently. The other is "events" like high school reunions, where the contact only now seems to take place via social media (which makes sense of course, given the world as it is). As I do not frequent social media, I miss all of these.
DeleteI like that. There are a few people, however, that I ghosted because I got tired of being only a friend when in need.
ReplyDeleteJohn, that is legitimate in my world - and that is not them needing a friend, it is them needing a service or a servant.
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