As Logan and I were driving home from the train station the other day I hear him say, “Look Mom! Those people still have their Christmas lights up!” I’m not sure why this was such a shock for him, seeing as we still have our up too, but it reminded me of a time when I was small, when the reason for this was far different. We’ve been busy this year and it just hasn’t been convenient to get up there to take them down yet, but years ago I remember our lights being up for months, not because we were lazy, but because my mother was a young single mom with three little kids running around and just couldn’t climb up on the roof to get them down. When some young men around our neighborhood heard what was going on, that all came together and climbed up to take the lights down for her.
At times as a single parent it can be embarrassing to ask for help. There are times when I’ve let my pride get in the way. About a month ago I bought a bookshelf from Walmart with some friends. I proudly declared to them, “Who needs men?! I can build a bookshelf on my own! It can’t be that hard!” The next afternoon I was sitting in the middle of the room with a pile of boards around me and some instructions that appeared to be in Chinese. After fiddling around with a few nails I realized it was going to take me a year to get this thing put together myself. I took a deep breath, swallowed my pride, and went up to get my dad. Before long he had it all put together and ready to go. There are still lots of things I need help with from time to time. I don’t know much about cars or electronics, and when it comes to building things, it’s nice to have a dad around. What I’m trying to say is, it is ok to ask for help sometimes. It isn’t realistic to expect yourself to do everything on your own. It just isn’t possible. If you know a single mother who is struggling, find a way to serve her. She may just be too embarrassed to ask. There are always ways to serve each other and make the world a better place.