Have you ever had a spouse, family member or friend that has asked you for something which they needed, but you didn’t wish to give it? Perhaps it was just a few minutes of your time or even something as unassuming as a hug. Yet your desires were far greater than the need of the other whom you claimed to love or care about.

As I was multi-tasking, I was viewing a television program which was “packed” with reminders that far too often we are too selfish. Due to the circumstances and heartaches of my life, I’ve attempted to always “hear” when others express a need. I’ve dropped what I’ve been doing to talk to those that needed a listening ear or a shoulder to cry upon. I’ve prepared food for someone that was ill or grieving the death of a loved one. I’ve shared my time with someone that felt hopeless. Yet, even when I have tried to heed those calls from God to give back to others, I’m sure I’ve missed some opportunities along the way.

As the program noted about giving of ourselves, it portrayed the emotions of rejection when two young lovers had different desires in sharing emotions and physical touch.  When I feel as though I’m with the persons in the written word or the actors on the screen, my emotions are with them.

When the young man was told his desire to not hold his “loves” hand would cause her sorrow every time she was with him, my mind raced to the countless times I stood before the man I had loved; my then husband, Charles. I pleaded with him time and again during our 44-year marriage to just hold me; to hug me. Time and again he would look at me and blatantly say, “no.” Like the actress, my reality was that for most of our marriage, my heart was filled with sorrow every time I asked for his touch and was rejected.

In the same story, the lesson of “being there” for the other was instilled. There was much in such a short expanse of time. When a husband opted to walk away from his hurting wife, the doctor asked him “why if he had been there for all those years, was he leaving now? Why was he leaving her then, when she needed him the most?” How often I have asked this question.

Recently I read this quote and realize even though simple in thought, it’s poignant in deed, “if someone seriously wants to be a part of your life, they will seriously make an effort to be in it. No reasons. No excuses. Author unknown.”  Having someone asking to share their life and/or emotions should be a compliment. They value you as “someone” to them.  Galatians 6:2 NKJ, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”