A Little Help - Emily Dickinson

1830–86

You see them in church—the helpers, the servers, the compassionate people—and you think, Wow, I’d like to be like that, but I’m not. These people quickly understand when someone is in need and get straight to work. Sometimes they take care of matters themselves. Sometimes they coordinate the help with others. But every time, they’re on top of it.

If you’re not one of those people, don’t beat yourself up. God didn’t intend everyone to be like that. He gave you other strengths—perhaps abilities that other people look at and say, “Wow, I’d like to be like that, but I’m not.”

From what we can discern about Emily Dickinson, she wasn’t someone who instinctively met others’ needs. She kept to herself. By today’s standards, she’d be called a loner. You have to be around people all the time to see and meet their needs, and she preferred to be by herself. But she understood that she could still help—even if it was just one person. She wrote a short poem that explained that she felt that if she could even stop just one heart from breaking, her life wouldn’t have been in vain. At the time, she had no idea how many she would help over generations.

Emily’s gift was poetry. She’s now a giant of American literature, but she actually published very little in her lifetime. She seemed to be insecure about the value of her work. (“I’m nobody!” she said in one of her best-known poems.) Yet in the centuries since her death, her writing has helped people by speaking deeply to them, connecting with them, helping them to see God, the world, and themselves in a new light. She had her issues with the organized church, but her poems reflect the reality of God in honest, personal ways.

God says that all gifts are important. Emily’s writing helped people. The shy person who is happy to photocopy church bulletins but would be uncomfortable greeting people at the church door helps people too. It’s easy to label the person who coordinates the church food drive as a helper, but there are many others quietly using their abilities for God’s glory.

Don’t ever think that what you contribute isn’t helpful.

Our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it.

1 Corinthians 12:18