Lend a Helping Hand

I don't have a lot of time today. Because of Daylight Savings Time, my biological clock let me sleep in until the other clocks said 7, and on Mondays (and Wednesdays), I leave at 8. However, thanks to the One in a Million project, I was able to quickly find a short video from an inspiring young woman.




When I selected the video to watch on Youtube, the thumbnail was too small for me to see any details, so when Brynn said why she likes to lend a helping hand - just one, I was a little surprised. Up to that point, and for the entire video afterward, she seemed so normal. Just a normal little girl helping up wherever she can. But seeming so normal is part of what makes Brynn so extraordinary.

When we (or I) have some characteristic or problem that could hold us back we (or I) tend to focus on it negatively. I allow my problems to hold me back because I give them more weight than they deserve.

Brynn has only one hand. Right now, I'm thinking of several things that it takes two hands to do. But Brynn didn't focus on the things she can't do; she focussed on what she could do, and she did them. She helped with the dishes, though I thought that would have been nearly impossible, she taught her sister how to walk, she helps her primary teacher return pictures to the library, and she makes friends with the new people at church. She even does something that most of us feel we can't do - Member Missionary Work.

Missing an entire part of her body, and especially one so useful as a hand, may feel like a disabling problem, but Brynn didn't let it hold her back. What are some "disabling" problems that we have? We may feel too shy to share the gospel. We may feel that we don't have the skills we need to help others. When we think about ourselves, we can find all kinds of things wrong with us, and it's so normal to think "I can't do it."

Brynn was probably in that slump once. Having only one hand, she probably felt much less capable than other kids. She probably got teased for it, too. Having that kind of childhood could have made her miserable and bitter, but it didn't. She rose above that negativity, and I think I know how she did it. Instead of thinking about herself and her problem, she thought about others. She reached out to help them. And service is a sure way to attract the Spirit, and the Spirit can be an empowering influence in anyone's life, no matter what challenges they have.

We can follow Brynn's example. By reaching out to others, we can attract the Spirit. When we have the Spirit with us, he can inspire us to know how we can help others (working around our disabilities if we have to). God knows each of us personally, and He knows what we can do. He knows us better than we do, and that includes knowing our abilities and disabilities better than we do. We can ask Him "What can I do to help?" with faith that we'll be able to do the things He asks of us, no matter how impaired we may feel. He knows us perfectly. We may be more capable than we think.