A few weeks ago, while looking through my social media, I came across a vignette depicting Winnie the Pooh sitting on a log, talking with Piglet. In the short narrative, Pooh shared with his friend that he was having a difficult day. Piglet, being a good friend, asked the soft-voiced, cuddly bear if he wanted to talk about it. The reply was, “No, I don’t think I do.”
Piglet responded, “That’s okay,” and then sat beside Pooh on the log.
The honey-loving bear looked at his closest friend and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Nothing, really,” was Piglet’s reply. “I know what difficult days are like. I quite often don’t feel like talking about it on my difficult days either.”
Piglet went on to share that difficult days are much easier when you have someone with you.
Piglet’s actions summarize UMCOR’s Early Response Team (ERT) mission of “providing a caring, Christian presence in the aftermath of a disaster. And, that presence is meant to show the love of Jesus as described in John 13:34, where we are commanded to “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” When He gave us this commandment, Jesus turned love into a verb and an action word. Then, He chose to be the example of action. Beyond that, He did not define exactly how you were to act. He lets that up to you. He wants you to find and use your language of love.
In disaster ministry, we often do that by sharing our time and talents to muck out a basement, tarp a roof, or clean up debris for people who are having difficult days. We generally do not make it a practice to talk about those difficulties. Rather, we show them by our actions, that they are loved and not alone. Through this love offering, we carry out the commandment by proving to the world that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. (John 13:35).
The Disaster Response Ministry provides many training opportunities for you, your congregation, or small groups to learn how to put your love into action. The ministry can also connect you with opportunities to use those skills to assist people who are having difficult days.
A.A. Milne, author of Winnie-the-Pooh, once said, “You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”
When was the last time you left your corner of the forest, sat on a log with someone, and provided a caring, Christian presence?
