“She was drenched from the top to the bottom. Barefooted at the void deck.” She said. “ I took off my shoes and offered it to her because I could not bear to see her like this. She did not accept my shoes but she went away with a radiant smile on her face.” This was one sharing that was really heart-warming from the inter-ministry retreat.

I remember the countless times when I hesitated to reach out my hands to help others. The fear of how others would think of me, fear of rejection, fear of embarrassment plagued me. Fear, fear and fear. I would ultimately convince myself that there would be someone else out there who would render his assistance to the person in need.

Finally, I would just walk away.

Jesus had never turned His back upon us, no matter how many times we have disappointed Him. The moment we choose to disregard or pretend not to see the plight of others, we are saying “No!” to Jesus in our lives.

We are walking away from him.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me.” (Matthew 25:40)

Perhaps we should start to be more perceptive to people’s desperate calls for help. They may be those who are marginalised, those who are experiencing adversity in silence or even the ones we are taught to hurry past and look away from. For us, a seemingly trivial gesture of asking “Are you okay?” and offering our support to them may mean the world to the other person.

Now, when we see others in need, regardless of whether it is a friend or a stranger along the road, take the step of faith and offer our hands to them.

You may never know how much it means to them.

By Rebecca Tan