As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
GALATIANS 6:10
A retired couple owned a riverfront cabin in the woods. They often invited friends and family to gather there. When it was just the close family, the man spent his days either cutting firewood or fishing from his boat. Sometimes he and his buddies would take their pickups into the woods and get firewood together. They helped stock one another’s woodpiles and also took firewood to widows and other needy families. Sometimes the man fished alone. Other times friends fished with him, or he took his grandchildren or other young relatives out in the boat.
One day the couple’s little granddaughter asked her grandfather which he liked better, fishing or cutting firewood. No adult would ever ask that, would she? We’d assume the fishing was fun and relaxing, and cutting firewood was a tiresome chore. But that’s not how the grandfather answered.
“Oh,” he said, “I like fishing. It’s nice to be out on the river. But I can only be out there for just so long. And then after a while, I find myself thinking, You know, I’d just as soon be cutting wood. So I come back in, get my gear, and go chop wood. And then I do that for just so long, and after a while, I find myself thinking, You know, I’d just as soon be fishing!”
We may chuckle at that, but this older man was using his time wisely. The fish helped feed his family and were given generously to others as well. The wood he cut heated the cabin, heated their home in town, and helped heat the homes of friends as well as widows, single moms, and other needy folks from church.
Whatever stage of life we’re in, there is a place for us to help others. Even when we don’t see an opening for our particular gifts, we can always pray for people.