Hot topics + how to provide hope

WHATS IN THIS (DIFFERENT) BLOG:
• A brief comment on several hot topics: Heart disease in women. Words to boost self-belief. New superbug arrives. Positive thinking helps people age. Great Barrier Reef is dying. An American switches to Aussie football.
• Everyone’s psyche needs hope……providing hope is not difficult.

THIS BLOG IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT. The first part is a series of 8 images each of which summarizes a hot topic.

The second part is a simple method to provide hope to another…. the psychological benefit for both giver and receiver can be huge.

A SIMPLE WAY TO PROVIDE HOPE TO ANOTHER:
“I’d like to show you an illustration,” Michelle said as she stood up. She extracted a length of thin, shiny rope from one of her many pants pockets and gave it to Darby.
“What is this stuff?” he asked, turning the rope over and over in his hands. “I’ve never seen anything like it”.
“Can I see it?” I requested.
It shone like silver, was heavy, and looked like solid silver. It must have been an eighth of an inch thick. It had no links, and the surprising thing was how bendable it was—almost like string.
“It is silver, actually a rare alloy of silver, which makes it flexible,” Michelle added.
“What’s in the alloy?” I asked.
“One of the rare earth elements … Californium, I think.”
“Where was it made?”
“Ah … that’s a secret.”

Michelle continued, getting back to the illustration, “Now take the rope, Darby, and tie my hands behind my back.”
Darby grinned a bit sheepishly as he tied Michelle.
“Hey, not so tight,” she remonstrated, and we all smiled.
I looked around the room. It’s a good thing there aren’t too many folks in this restaurant…
“Now, if the rope were strong and the knots were tight, so that I could not undo myself, how would I feel?” Michelle asked.
“Upset,” Kara offered.
“Trapped,” Darby suggested.
“Agitated,” I said.
“Depressed,” Meme added.
“Certainly … all of those things,” Michelle agreed, “until someone like Kara notices and offers to help untie the rope.”

At this, she motioned for Kara to step up and do that.
It took maybe thirty seconds for Kara to untie Michelle.
“That was easy, wasn’t it?”
“Suuure.”
“You see, the problem is solved quickly,” Michelle went on, “but only if Kara sees the problem and offers to help.”

“What a neat demonstration!” enthused Meme. “But what if it’s a really difficult problem?”
“Even the act of offering to help or trying to help without success can make the person with the problem feel better. It can lift their spirits and give them a psychological boost, which may energize them to find a way to solve the problem.”
“God can amplify the effort,” Michelle continued, “in ways we cannot predict, and that can lead to solutions from unexpected sources. But the trigger is the person who offers to help. I call this helping someone to hope.”
Wow, this is a simple concept which seems very practical.

THE ABOVE IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK HIKING TOWARD HEAVEN.
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The Gray Nomad
Probing the practice of Christian believers……

Thank you Vanessa for reminding me of this simple but profound truth to help someone to hope.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
[Book of Hebrews, chapter 10].