There is a story told in the Middle East about how to help someone who’s drowning.
A man had fallen into a river. He was not much of a swimmer and was in real danger of drowning. A crowd of concerned people wanted to rescue him. They were standing at the edge of the water, each of them urgently shouting out to him: “Give me your hand, give me your hand!”
The man was battling the waves and ignored their urgent plea. He kept going under and was clearly struggling to take another breath.
A saintly man walked up to the scene. He too cared about the drowning man. But his approach was different. Calmly he walked up to the water, waded in up to his knees, glanced lovingly at the drowning man, and said: “Take my hand.”
Much to everyone’s surprise, the drowning man reached out and grabbed the saint’s hand. The two came out of the dangerous water. The drowning man sat up at the edge of the water, breathing heavily, looking relieved, exhausted, and grateful.
The crowd turned towards the saint and asked: “How were you able to reach him when he didn’t heed our plea?” The saint calmly said: “You all asked him for something, his hand. I offered him something, my hand. A drowning man is in no position to give you anything.”
Let us remember not to ask anything of someone who is drowning.
So if you are that saintly soul, if you want to reach out to someone who is struggling to stay above water, go to them. But don’t ask them to give you their hand. Instead, offer them your hand. Don’t ask for their heart, offer them your heart. Offer them your ear, your love, your shoulder. Release your friends, your family, from the shame of their brokenness. Let them know that you love them through the brokenness, because of the brokenness, and God-willing, after the brokenness.
Free your loved ones of the energy they spend to hide their brokenness from you. Free them of the shame of coming to you as they are. Let them spend that energy on surviving, on healing, on thriving. Let us love one another as we are, so that we may become all we are meant to be.
Omid Safi, How to Reach out to Someone who is Suffering
Mindfulbalance 
Beautiful.
So beautiful and so simple. And yet, what makes it so tough for both the drowning and the saint? Shame, pride, sheer exhaustion and frustration, fear of rejection on either part, hopelessness, so many feelings and emotions that can get in the way of reconciliation. What if the reality is the drowning person wants no hand, wants no rescue? Maybe they truly want to learn to swim?
Thanks for the thought filled wisdom.
Cath
Reblogged this on Find Your Middle Ground and commented:
This is a powerful story that has stayed with me. Thanks to Karl Duffy for sharing the wisdom of Omid Safi.
May we offer our heart and our selves to others in need. We don’t need to be saints to do it 😌
This gave me shivers. So beautiful. Anita
Thank you for giving this story.
You are welcome. I really like Omid Safi’s writings so it was nice to get such a special one to share. Thank you for your comment, Karl
Reblogged this on In Sacred Presence and commented:
“Let us remember not to ask anything of someone who is drowning.”
I really, really appreciate this. Blessings!
Hiya, I am glad you appreciated this post and its beautiful, simple message, and thank you for following. I hope some of the thoughts will encourage and bring blessings just as your own blog does. Karl
Beautiful lesson and perspective. Thanks, Brad
Thanks Brad. It is a lovely tale. Thank you too for your blog and the incredible photographs in the gallery. It is a real encouragement getting to know other bloggers celebrating the beauty which is all round, Best wishes, Karl .
Wonderful Lessons within your tale Karl, I came via Val’s reblog.. A great reminder for us all to reach out and help others, especially to those who are down on their luck.
Many thanks.
Sue