Extending A Helping Hand

Times are really tough. I have had barely any collections these past few months. I owe my mom a huge amount already!

My biggest pain in not being "rich" is that I am not able to extend material assistance to other people. But then two incidents happened recently which made me re-think things.

First, my friend asked me for examples of new Filipino idiomatic expressions. I tried to search using my favorite search engine but could not find any. And so I thought of "makuha ka sa isang tingin" which literally translates to "be gotten with one look". Of course, what it really means is that when a parent gives that stern look, children should beware. They are about to be disciplined should the child/children make one more false move.

Another Filipino idiomatic expression I suggested was "walang matigas na tinapay sa mainit na kape" which translates literally to "there is no hard bread for hot coffee". I got this from the title of an action movie so maybe it really means "the best man wins" or something to that effect.

The second incident is that another friend experienced a big problem recently. Her bag was snatched while she was talking to somebody over her celphone! All her IDs, her checkbook, some important papers/notes, one phone, even her lipstick and powder were in that bag! She went to the nearest police station to report the robbery. But to this day, she was not able to recover any of her things.

So when this friend of mine visited the condo last Saturday (I owe her some money for a project that she did for me), not only did I give the money I owed her. I also gave her a wallet, lipstick, cologne and a bag - all of which were still useable to me but I know she needed them more.

Two simple incidents. Who would think that this "poor" consultant can no longer extend a helping hand to those who need it?

Lord, thank You for continuing to use me as an instrument of your love and joy!