Hugs

A young girl by the name of Hanna lived in a state where coal was big business. One day Hanna and her friend were talking about the mines and the miners and this fact came to light. They learned that the most common cause of death among the coal miners was electrocution. They live in a remote area and the mining operation there is pretty old and relatively primitive. There are sometimes problems with the wiring in the mine, and miners actually get electrocuted. What compounds the problem is that the nearest doctor is many miles away, which led Hanna to ask the doctor if there was anything the local folks could do to help while they're waiting for the doctor to arrive. She was surprised by the doctor's answer. "Well," he said, "there is one thing, hug the injured miner." Well, obviously Hanna wanted to know why. He said, "When people are about to go into shock, I think there is something about a hug, about the human touch - about human tenderness. Not all shocks are electrical are they? People around us are getting shocked every day by bad news they've just received, by bad treatment, by unexpected developments, by a death, or a failure, or by pain in a relationship. And not all hugs are two arms around a person although that kind of hug is great. A hug can be a word of encouragement, or an offer to help, a gift, a compliment, a place to rest and recover. It's practical love when someone has really been hit hard. I am reminded of what we are told in
Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. As we what? Have opportunity! Have you and I been looking for OPPORUTNITIES this week to give somebody; anybody a word of encouragement or have you and I been so caught up in our own problems that we weren’t looking to encourage anyone. When we learn to get our mind off our problems and began to look for ways to encourage others we will soon find it is far better to encourage others and our problems will become less and less. Try it and see what will happen. Tell yourself, that this weekend I will look for and find at least three people to encourage. Look for the opportunity and make it a matter of prayer you may be SHOCKED at what happens! Have a great weekend and I’ll see you in Sunday school come Sunday morning. Don’t forget to give someone a hug!