Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
A simple life with a light heart and a smiling face is itself joyous. By contrast, a complicated life with a heavy heart and a frowning face sends joy away. While people know the truth, many don’t choose to live in the truth—for their character dictates their choices.
There are so many simple things that can bring joy to your life. Take me, for example: dropping some money into the bowl of a street beggar, giving some money to an elderly person pushing a cart of discarded boxes, or helping a frail elderly person to cross at the traffic lights. I find joy in all these simple acts. They are simple to me, but perhaps not simple to these vulnerable strangers—for they may feel that they are not forgotten in the midst of their weaknesses or losses. Love may heal, but love is delicate: it may also hurt those who are underprivileged if offered carelessly.
As a Christian, I am encouraged by the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). Though not everyone has to do what the Good Samaritan did, a small gesture of kindness may make someone feel they are not “discarded.” Extending a helping hand to those in Christ is the same as doing it to the Lord (Matthew 25:45), but helping those outside the faith may help them see the Lord—who died for all people on earth.
So, are you the Good Samaritan—a helping hand to the one in need? Or would you like to become a true neighbour who loves?
May this poem shed some light on your thoughts:
“Savouring the Egg Waffle” ~ ✨
A child saw an egg waffle stand,
And told his mom he’d never tried.
Mom frowned, and did not say a word,
While her little son cried and cried.
“I really want to have one, please!”
But Mom said, “We have meals to make—
One waffle costs what three meals need.”
The child wept for the waffle’s sake.
He sobbed aloud before his mom,
Whose heart then broke, tears filled her eyes.
Then suddenly: “Go take and eat!”
Who was the neighbour, good and wise?
The watching customers? No, not them.
It was the waffle seller, true—
The poor in wealth, yet rich in grace;
The rich have means, but warmth is few.
Who shows compassion to the poor?
True neighbour loves—that’s mercy’s law.
✨✨💖 ~
en yan hua fang 