Help your neighbor. Detached "piety", or How to help correctly

Unpopular Virtue

The virtue of sympathy is not listed among the main Christian virtues, but it is a manifestation of the most important Christian virtue - love.

It is impossible to love people and at the same time not participate in their lives, remain indifferent to what happens to them. Perhaps right now they need our help, they need just what is called participation.

Meanwhile, it often happens that a person who considers himself a zealous Christian locks himself in his church life on those deeds of piety that he himself considers the only ones necessary for salvation.

He regularly goes to church, confesses and takes communion, performs evening and morning prayer rules at home, reads the holy fathers, but at the same time he completely withdraws, moves away from those people who surround him in everyday life. There is a seemingly plausible and even natural explanation for this - the surrounding people are of a different, non-Christian spirit.

Indeed, it is not uncommon that a person begins to live a church life, and the people who make up his social circle still remain non-church. They have different interests, and then ideas about life, and in this it is easy enough to find an excuse for yourself to move away from these people.

A person moves away from them, and from the worries that they live with, and from what happens to them, but there are no other people around him. And it turns out that he becomes a stranger in a world alien to him, that he no longer lives a living life - natural, normal for a believer, because for this you need to come into contact with people, to delve into what is happening to them, and he, as it were, glides over the surface, it passes by. So, imperceptibly for himself, the most important thing leaves his life - this is love for other people, indifference to them.

Why is it so important? Let's remember what we know about God? We know from the catechism that God is omnipotent, we know that God is good, that He created everything that exists. But it is not only difficult for a limited, created being to penetrate the mystery of Divine existence, but, by and large, it is impossible.

And at the same time, there are things that we know about God for sure. For example, the fact that He loves a person and that there is nothing in human life that would not concern God: every little thing, every insignificant event connected with us is everything, as Holy Scripture and the Tradition of the Orthodox Church testify, God is most directly interested in , and in all this the Lord necessarily participates, because He does not despise even the slightest human need.

If God treats people this way, then it is quite obvious that He expects the same attitude towards each other from us. And it is quite natural that if God descends from His ineffable heights to the everyday, elementary manifestations of human life, then we should not ignore this either.

So one can even say this: if a person remains indifferent, indifferent to the needs, sorrows, experiences of the people who surround him, then he cannot be a good Christian, he cannot be a Christian in principle. By and large, he can be called a person with a very big stretch.

General quality of saints

If we look at those who have been glorified throughout the history of the Church as saints, we will see that they were very different people - with different temperaments, with different life experiences, with different, as we would say today, educational level and social status; but there is one thing in common: among the saints there was not a single indifferent and indifferent person.

Even if we read about hermits who avoided the company of people who did not communicate with them, then, having become acquainted with their life a little more deeply, we can understand that the time spent in hermitage and silence was filled not only with a prayer for God's mercy to them, but but it has always been a prayer for the whole world and for the people living in it.

There is such a case in the life of St. Arseny the Great: people come to him who would like to see him, and among them the then Archbishop of Alexandria. In the end, they could not see him: he did not come out to them, because he did not want to violate the seclusion that he had set for himself at that time as the rule of life, and they retired with great sorrow.

Subsequently, they came again, and they already had the opportunity to meet him. And so they complained: “Last time we left you with nothing, having taken such a path, you did not even see us.” He said, “Yes, but when you went home, you had some time on the road and the opportunity to repent of your sins. You stopped to sleep, to eat, and I stood and prayed for you until you got home.”

There is also a similar episode in "Answers to the Questions of the Disciples" by St. Barsanuphius the Great and John the Prophet. We are talking about the disasters that are coming to the world of that time, and the Monk Barsanuphius says that this world would have had a bad time if it were not for the prayers of three holy men who rise like a kind of fiery pillar from the earth and meet before the Throne of God.

This slightly opens the veil over the life of the saints, reveals to us the secret of their inner life and explains that, despite their apparent indifference to anything, they participated with all their hearts.

Don't reach out - reach out the staff

Since we, on our part, cannot offer such participation in the existence of the world - our life is not like that, our prayer is not like that, we must participate in it by deed. And here elementary common sense should be of great help to us.

When we try to render a person some kind of service, we try to help him in something, then, naturally, we should not do this against his will and against his desire (unless, of course, we are talking about a person who, for example, is drowning , - it still needs to be pulled out of the water). Our job is to start helping a person, to offer him our help, and if he rejects it, to retreat without imposing our participation.

After all, of course, there is such an extreme: believers, pious people want to make someone happy without his desire. Of course, nothing good comes from this intention, but on the contrary, it turns out only temptation, grief and frustration.

In general, when we want to help another person, it is extremely important to try to understand what he needs, and to help precisely in this, and not in what it gives us pleasure to help him. In a word, it is important that our help coincides with his ideas about help.

And, of course, helping people does not imply any indulgence in their sinful skills and passions. Here we can give an elementary and fairly common example: a heavy drinker and, possibly, a person living on the street comes up to us on the street and asks for money to get him drunk.

Naturally, he does not need to give money for this; it is wiser, if he is hungry, to buy food - buy it yourself and give it to your hands so that he will not be tempted to buy alcohol. Of course, you can say: don’t you understand, we will buy him food, but he will go and still find somewhere for a drink. Well, what to do with it - let him die of hunger? So this should not be treated in any way.

Continuing the theme of the limits of help that should not be crossed: there is another limit - of how much one can give this help to people at all.

The same St. Barsanuphius the Great has this image: if a person has fallen into a pit, do not stretch out your hand to him - stretch out your staff to him. And he explains why. If you stretch out your hand to him, and instead of getting out of the hole, he will pull you towards him, then you will fall into the same hole. And if you stretched out the staff, then a person who wants to get out of the pit will grab the staff and get out with your help; if the fallen one does not want to get out and pulls the staff towards him, then you will simply let go of the staff.

In my opinion, this is a kind of ideal model of what kind of help should be, because it happens that a person begins to help someone and as a result his family, his relatives suffer. In the end, he himself comes to such a destruction of his own life that then he cannot put it back together again - and of course, such sympathy is hardly justified.

The apostle Paul says that our abundance should be the filling of someone else's deficiency and vice versa. It must be so, because everything else is a little absurd.

If a person is not just looking for help, not just not coping with the situation, but is looking for someone, figuratively speaking, to sit on his neck and wave his legs at the same time, then, of course, he should not be given such an opportunity, because in this way we will do a disservice.

By doing something for a person, and not with him, we corrupt him. The same thing happens in raising a child: if parents do everything for him, then they will raise a capricious, spoiled and completely unadapted person.

If they just help him and do something with him, then this is a completely different matter. The child is gradually learning, and the measure of participation of mom and dad in his life is gradually decreasing. It should be the same in our relationships with adults, with others.

About unwashed floors and missionary talk

Should our sympathy be manifested in the desire, the desire to bring our loved ones to the temple? On the one hand, of course, yes, because it is unnatural when a person who has found for himself the most important thing in life - a priceless bead of faith in Christ, is indifferent to the fact that this bead turned out to be unnoticed by people dear to him.

There is even a doubt whether he loves them, because we are talking, no less, about the eternal fate. On the other hand, any attempts to directly influence loved ones in this regard, as a rule, turn out to be unsuccessful and ineffective. The people around us are more convinced by our example: they see that some changes are taking place in us, they see that what they have tried unsuccessfully to achieve from us for many years suddenly happens as if by itself ...

Here lived a man who never cleaned his house, did not wash the dishes, did not buy groceries, let alone cook something. And all of a sudden he starts doing it. The family is amazed: what happened to him? And there is an interest in the good that their loved one has been opened to them in such a new way.

And if a man, as before, enters a dirty apartment in exactly the same way and does not sweep the floors, but waits for his wife to do it for him, after that he can convince her of anything, but he will not convince her of anything except that some new whim appeared for him.

And it also happens that a person who wants to attract his loved ones to life in the Church acts very rudely and authoritatively, so that it becomes clear that this is not about love, but about some exactingness: “this is mine, and everyone should accept it ".

And this also never leads to good: quarrels, strife, accusations begin. As a rule, such conversations end with something like: “You don’t listen to me - you will burn in fiery hell.” What can be said about this...

There is also such a situation: a believer, a church person is preparing to receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and he has a lot of things to do: he needs to read the following for communion, he needs to fast, he needs to go to the service in the evening.

And so, when he begins to prepare, his relatives, relatives, and friends suddenly begin to distract him from this. And not just somewhere they call him for a walk or offer to have fun, but one thing happened for one, another happened for another, the third requires some kind of heartfelt participation, conversation.

It begins to seem to a person that all this is some kind of interference - he gets annoyed, annoyed, tries to move away from all this and does not understand at all that this is the same element of preparation for communion. Participation in the lives of other people, helping them, including sometimes with a conversation, and with some kind of heartfelt sympathy - these are deeds of love: perhaps, in the person of these people, the Lord Himself addressed a person, came, but he did not notice Him and at the same time wants to be involved in His Body and Blood.

Of course, this is a completely wrong attitude. In some cases, the question arises: “yes, but what to do”? Yes, this is how it should be: take part in another person, give him the necessary time and strength, and if you really want to take communion, read the rule at night, perform at least once such a feat of both Christian love and Christian piety.

Help, and then understand yourself

It must be remembered that sympathy is not human pleasing, and not a way to satisfy vanity; we can distinguish one from the other primarily by the intention that lies in our heart. Why are we doing this or that? You should get into the habit of asking yourself this question.

Sometimes a person asks: “What if I see narcissism in the first place? Should I give up on this?" No, the deed still needs to be done, and I'll explain why. Because there is another person, there is his need, there is some kind of his grief, and he, by and large, does not care about what we are going to help him with.

This is our inner experience - vanity, narcissism or something else. These are our problems. Therefore, if such a situation arises and we cannot deal with our feelings, we must postpone this trial, help the person, and then repent that vanity or something else was present in this or that act.

If we already have some experience in the spiritual life, we can try to go the way of correction already in our intention, right away. Here a person appeared before us, his need arose, a desire to help appeared, we realized that in the first place there was some kind of desire to please our vanity. Vanity aside, business is a necessity, we do it. Such a skill is developed in a person in due time, with the acquisition of spiritual experience.

And the second question that you need to ask yourself is: “Who do I want to please with my actions: man or God?”. Or at least like this: “Is what I do pleasing to God, or not?”. If this question arises, as it were, by itself, it means that a certain attitude towards pleasing God is already present in us. And our conscience often tells us whether this matter is really pleasing to God or not.

When we ask such a question, it is very important to have in ourselves a certain guarantee of obedience to God: after all, the Lord may not allow us to do the work that we want (even, it would seem, very good), may prevent it.

If a person is ready to retreat from his intention, if the Lord shows him that it is wrong, then the Lord, as a rule, shows, in some obvious way gives an answer. We get confused in something, we do not understand something when we are not ready to accept and fulfill the will of God.

When this readiness exists, a person almost always recognizes it one way or another. And this, in fact, is not some kind of secret, not some kind of secret. This is truth and reality.

Prepared by Elena Sapaeva

Help your neighbor

Leo, are you coming?

How many times do I have to tell you? Do not call me that.

Okay, okay, Leon, so should I wait for you? - my best friend and, concurrently, my colleague, stood in front of me and fanned himself with a folder. - Damn, it's hot. And why do the air conditioners turn off at five?

No, Vic, I have to finish my report. If I don’t do it today, I’ll have to come back here tomorrow, but somehow I don’t have the desire to hang around on Saturday at work, - I continued to type diligently, dreaming of finishing as soon as possible.

Okay, then I ran away, good luck to you, - reaching the door, Vic stopped. - I will definitely tell you what our new director is, honey, because I'm just sure that it will be a very beautiful alpha.

Yes, yes, go already, otherwise the most advantageous places will be taken, - here's a meteor. - All right, it's time to get to work.

And now, six hours later, I leave work. Result: the report is made. Who will watch it? They will look with one eye, but I plowed over him for six hours, I didn’t see the new director, I didn’t get to the banquet. But this is a pity, because I really want to eat. Okay, then let's shorten the path and go through the yards, although there all the lights are knocked down and the whole yard is like one dark spot, but after passing the yard, you immediately go to the bus stop. The rumbling stomach played its part, and I went to the entrance to the yards. When I was halfway there, an offer caught up with me.

Oh, omezhka, and even one. Can we keep you company? - from the car, which I had just passed, three alphas began to crawl out.

Damn it, I won't be able to run to the exit from the yard. So you need to run to the office. The lighting is already there, and they won't touch me. Come on, Leo, run faster, it remains to run through the arch and you are saved.

Catch up with him, come in from the right, - I manage to notice the shocked look of some alpha, he sits down in the driver's seat of the car. What are you staring at? It would be better if he helped, although they don’t help, but I hope that he will at least think of calling an ambulance with the police.

I got caught - they pull me to the right, I fly into the bushes. Everything... Kick the kitten.

You'll like it, he whispers to me, and I'm about to vomit. Yes, damn it, at least someone ... I promise that no more foot in these yards. Yes, I will be obedient and good, yes, anything. I feel a member attached to my ass, but it suddenly becomes easy for me: there is no heaviness, and in a second my arms and legs are released. I hear the sounds of a struggle, I sit down on my long-suffering ass and see an oil painting: the same alpha, whom I saw at the last moment, until they carried me into the bushes, beat up my rapists. I notice that a third one approaches him from behind with reinforcement.

Turn around, - a U-turn, my savior intercepts the armature, and, apparently, the alpha got very angry, because then everything happened according to the scenario a la "the soul rushed to heaven." After 3 minutes, the rapists fled. Maybe they really got scared, or maybe because they heard the howl of sirens.

In a couple of minutes we are sitting in an ambulance, and I am looking at my savior. Tall, probably two heads taller than me, broad-shouldered, pumped up, this is especially clearly visible because of the torn shirt, the muscles are bulging, long legs and a large leg size, there is definitely a size 50. Damn, yes, compared to him, I have a Cinderella foot. I lift my head up and hover. Yes, he is unambiguously handsome: wheat-colored hair, short-cropped, dark brown eyes, a hooked nose, it is clear that he often participates in such fights, slightly swollen lips, but just right for his face, strong-willed chin. Y-yes, still all this would not spoil the cut on half a forehead, from which they still cannot stop the blood. And in general, he does not look so hot.

Thank you wanted to say.

Well, this is so clear, that's just thinking about something else, right? - Yes, he laughs at me.

Well, I just thought you didn't look so hot, - I felt ashamed, because he is now because of me.

Haha. Take a look at yourself. And don't think you'll get off so easy. You have to pay for help.

I will pay all medical bills.

What accounts? I can pay my own bills. The fact is that I just moved to this city - oh, I don’t like it anymore - my apartment is being renovated, but I myself live on a rented one. And since even though I’m right-handed, and my left arm is broken, I won’t be able to cook in any way for myself, and it’s very expensive to eat in a cafe every day. Not to mention ironing things for myself and doing other elementary things - stop, this is what he is hinting at now - so this month I will live with you.

E, I do not live alone, - all sound thoughts left my brain.

One! It's already one in the morning, and for all the time we've been sitting with you, no one has called you and asked where you are.

Okay, I live alone, but that's not right.

You are an omega in your blood to care for the alpha, and I have to protect you, omeg. I fulfilled my duty, now you are in my debt, if not for me, you would have been fucked for two circles before the ambulance arrived.

But ... - damn it, well, how can I explain to him that I simply can’t pull it financially. I just recently moved out to an apartment bought in half with my parents (their gift for my 25th). And now I have very little money, because everything goes to the arrangement of the apartment.

Don't worry about the money - he's fucking reading my thoughts. - I will pay you as much as I pay for renting my apartment, I will also pay for food. You are responsible for cooking, ironing, changing bed linen and small things. I'm not hinting at intimacy, - I blushed. - Only if you don’t want to, - I’ll kill him now and don’t care that he saved me, - I’m joking. I promise not to bother. So, do you agree? I pay you and live with you for a month until my hand heals - yes, for such money I will carry him in my arms, I will not only have enough to feed him, I will finally buy myself a sofa and make repairs in the apartment.

I agree - I'm corrupt, but damn it, I really wanted to make repairs. - Only I have a two-room apartment, and it doesn’t look very good.

The main thing is that the bed and food are normal.

That's all, gentlemen, first aid has been provided, now let's go to the hospital. There they will put a plaster cast and free.

Do you have anything to eat at home?

No, but you can cook.

And what is your name? We've been talking for half an hour, and I don't even know your name.

Leon or Leo - for some reason I would be pleased if he called me Leo, although this is only allowed to parents. - And yours?

Well, not yours, but yours. I'm only 5 years older than you, so don't sweat it, but my name is Salman, but you can just Sal.

So what are we doing now?

Let's be kind to old age

Target: to cultivate kindness, respect for the older generation, the ability to respect close people (mother, father, grandmother, grandfather).

Progress of the information hour

Today our information hour is called: "Let's be merciful to old age", it is dedicated to the Day of the elderly. We will talk about how lonely people live, about the good that is so necessary for each of them.

In every country there is a category of people who require special attention and care. These are elderly people. Older people are experienced, wise, kind. Today is just grandparents for you. But sit down and talk to them, and the pages of their lives will open to you. And this is the history of every family, the history of our people.

Such is their fate - to remain in four walls one on one with their problems, illnesses. If only you knew how they are waiting for one of us to come to them. We often do not notice them - hunched, wrinkled. They are always there. On the bus, the young one violently pushes his grandfather, who wants to sit on the edge of the bench. As it turned out, he took this place for his friend, who was supposed to get on the bus. And grandfather awkwardly walks away, bowing his head.

The old grandmother bitterly complains about her fate: “I have children and grandchildren, but they have renounced me, they scream, they hate, they call me names.” And there are many such examples. The question arises: what is it? Bad manners? Conscience deficiency? Or maybe we think that old age will bypass us?

No! Old age is a stubborn beast, wrinkling his face and arms, clasping a hump on his shoulders and giving everyone a stick. Old age even more requires attention, love, care and affection. But often it remains without it.

Whom she forces to beg, whom she forces to escape from hunger and cold...

Every day we see the sad eyes of those who are united by the word "old age", we see hopelessness, despair. These people are often alone.

Grandma's years

Our grandmother walks, knocking with a stick,

I tell my grandmother: "I'll call the doctor,

From his medicine you will become healthy,

It will be a little bitter, what's wrong with that.

You will suffer a little, and the doctor will leave,

We are with you, grandmother, we will play ball.

We will run, grandmother, jump high,

See how I jump, it's so easy."

The grandmother smiled: “What do I need a doctor for,

I'm not sick, I'm just old

Just very old, gray hair,

Somewhere I lost my young years.

Somewhere behind the huge, behind the dark forests,

Beyond the high mountain, beyond the deep river.

People don't know how to get there."

I say to my grandmother: “Remember this place!

I'll go there, I'll swim, I'll go,

I will find your young years!

We know a lot about the life of football players, astronauts, actors. And what do we know about those who are close to us, people close and dear to us, whose continuation we are? (Children answer).

Grandmother... She embodies kindness and affection, diligence and wisdom, generosity and devotion. Take a closer look at how your grandmothers' shoulders straighten out when you, their grandchildren, appear in the yard. Grandmother, like a tireless bee, cooks food for the whole family, sews, embroiders, knits socks. But can you list all her work? And the most responsible of all jobs is caring for grandchildren.

Grandfather... Elder, head of the clan. Silver-haired grandfathers have long enjoyed unsurpassed authority, who knew everything and could give good advice.

Unfortunately, children, there are also grandparents who live alone. Their children and grandchildren are far away, rarely visit the elderly. And it often happens that they send their elderly parents to boarding schools for the elderly. The boarding schools are good: they are well-groomed, not hungry. But their eyes are full of sadness and sadness. They are always waiting for their children and grandchildren. They hope that they will come at least to visit them.

An audio recording of the song "Parental House" sounds.

Loneliness... It exists for the indifference and cruelty of those who live next to us, who have to look after their relatives. Lonely old age... What terrible words. For various reasons, fate scattered the children far from home. And they do not always rush to their old parents.

Grandmother Katya lived in one village. She had two sons and a daughter. They have gone far, live their lives, raise children, work. And grandmother Katya, meanwhile, grew old, began to get sick. She writes letters to the children to come and take her away, because it’s hard to run the household alone. And the kids have no time. Daughter Maria received the letter in the morning and read it only in the evening. Didn't find the time before. And Katya's mother writes that she is very sick, that she probably won't survive the winter. He wants to see his daughter and sons at least before he dies. “My dears, come at least for a day. I will see you and then I can die in peace.”

So the old woman did not wait for her children when she was alive ...

An audio recording of Igor Sarukhanov's song "My dear old people" sounds.

Children, do not forget your grandparents, mothers and fathers. May the joy of their life in their declining years not fade, and be kind to them.

Speak kind words

Do not skimp on the smiles of your neighbors,

People wither like grass

Leaving untimely from life.

Don't look for the right moment

Call someone in a hurry everyday

Maybe tomorrow there will be a subscriber

Forever sadly unavailable.

Do not accumulate a heap of good feelings,

To then write them in an obituary.

Everyone who is dear to us, let him know

Every day, how much he is dear to us.

People wither like grass...

How would you take a minute from yesterday?

Say all the kind words

And create a memory while still alive.

If you only knew how many old people live today in poverty, how many people live in dilapidated shacks or even do not even have a roof over their heads. They beg and are glad for even a piece of stale bread.

Creative work "The elderly and the young."

Now I suggest that you think about how old people can help the young, and how the young can help the old. For example: old people can give wise advice, teach patience, etc. Young people can give old people attention, care, a kind word, etc.

Then the students talk about how they can help their grandparents or just the elderly on the street.

Old age... How imperceptibly it comes. Someone resists her, disagrees, rebels ... Another in sad humility begins to retreat: “I can’t ... If my youth returned, I would take care of myself, the energy that I lost in vain, the health that I did not appreciate ".

In order to be young, healthy, not grow old longer, you need to listen to the advice of wise people. I bring to your attention the legend

"Old Age and Youth"

Carefree Youth walked the Path of Life, singing that everything is indifferent, that she can easily cope with all sorts of disasters and is not at all afraid of anyone. But one day Illness grabbed her.

What do you want from me? - Youth asks her.

A little health and strength, says Illness.

Take it, I've had enough! Rather, just back off!

Old Age heard this and said: “Oh, Youth, Youth! The disease must be driven away, and not given health in pieces.

What is your business, - Molodost retorted in response, - I live as I want, and I do what I want!

Old age wanted to convince the unreasonable, but Youth lifted its head even higher and walked along the paths of Life, and then suddenly False overtook it. And having overtaken, she led the untrodden paths to Meanness and Hypocrisy. Further stuck to her, like pitch, Laziness and Envy.

Old age kept instructing Youth on the mind, but always heard: “What is your business?”

After long wanderings, Youth met Love. When they met, they began to look at themselves. And she felt ashamed. I wanted to be the best, worthy of my companion. Only then did she come to Old Age for advice. And Old Age looked at her - only traces of Youth remained - and, with regret, said: "Now it's too late."

How did you understand this legend? (children answer).

The wise French say: “If only youth knew this, if old age could…” or “old age is not a joy, no one expects it, everyone manages to push back its unwanted arrival. But it still unexpectedly sneaks up, and you already understand with sad prudence that all the best has already happened, everything is in the past. And with you are memories and illnesses, loneliness and weakness. It's good when your relatives live next to you - children, grandchildren. And if they are not?

It’s good when you have built a warm family nest during your life path, when native smiles radiate around, children’s laughter rings. And if it doesn't...

Soso Pavliashvili's song "Let's pray for parents" sounds.

Since ancient times, bells, in addition to worship, were widely used as an alarm to warn of any kind of trouble - a fire, an enemy invasion, etc. (The bells are ringing - an audio recording sounds.) Today the bells are sounding the alarm, calling us to mercy, kindness. For only mercy makes us real people.

This is where our conversation ended. I hope that we all will become kinder, more merciful, and this hour of kindness will develop into a daily need to do good. It is not easy for all of us in today's difficult time, but remember that there are people around who are much worse off. And we can at least slightly improve their lives. I turn to you with a request: "Youth, look into the eyes of old age"

Helping people is the discovery of a new self.

Today, the phrase "help a person" is often associated with material assistance, money, connections. But is it only in this that a person's ability to help his neighbor lies? Certainly not. After all, many of us had situations when we were rescued with a word, advice, simply listened to in difficult times or helped in the performance of some necessary business. And this is much more important than just closing the issue with money. Help is a peculiar way of communication between people, sometimes with kind words, sometimes with deeds or deeds.

Everyone at least once in their life felt that joy and warmth that arise when, out of sincere and good intentions, you rescue, support or save someone. Psychologists have proven in practice that after helping someone, a person feels a huge surge of strength. He has a desire to live, the strength to resist his obsessive thoughts and a reason to stay in such an inspiring state of positive and good more often. That is why helping others helps a person get out of a seemingly hopeless situation and direct his thoughts in a creative direction.

How and to whom can you help? It is very easy to find an answer to this question. It is enough to think about what you can do here and now, having what you already have. After all, one idea of ​​a good deed can lead to a chain of positive situations and distract from obsessive thoughts.

Everyone can use their talents for the benefit of people by joining social work, including through the Internet. For example, by going to the website of the public organization "Lagoda", you can find information about various social projects. So, for example, anyone who wants to discover new talents in himself can take part in creating websites, motivators, writing articles, or even join the creation of social videos by submitting ideas and scripts. The desire to do something for people can change a person's thinking for the better. Such an occupation has a very positive effect on the development of the individual, as it stimulates its creative disclosure, fills it with good emotions, the desire to live, the desire to learn more knowledge about the world and about oneself.

On the Internet, among other things, you can help foreigners who are learning Russian if you know some language. You can send supportive cards to sick children or carry on correspondence on abstract topics with lonely people who live far away. You can create pictures and comics that cheer people up and post them on various sites.

As for helping people through the Internet in general, the main thing here is precisely selfless activity that comes from the heart. After all, helping others, you are thereby filled with creative thoughts that carry a positive charge, and bring meaning to your life!

Look around you, do your lonely elderly neighbors need help? Even if these people are not completely alone, and relatives sometimes come to them, it is still worth being attentive to people: what if this person himself cannot cope with something. Don't be afraid to offer your help. Of course, perhaps out of modesty, the neighbor will refuse at first, but if he really needs it, then, seeing your sincere intentions, he will accept help.

With words and deeds, you can help strangers on the streets, in shops, in public transport. Your kind word can not only improve someone's mood, but also fill someone's life with meaning!

And, finally, thirdly, it is worth remembering that in all cities there are orphanages and nursing homes. These places are inhabited by people who are always happy when something new comes into their lives: a new person, a new story, a new hope. As practice shows, children in orphanages are most happy not with gifts and things, but with the people who visited them. You can make a game for children, please with a story or a fairy tale. People of all ages are united and delighted by joint creativity. Such a simple activity is actually very entertaining and brings a lot of positive emotions. Having visited the orphanage at least once, you will understand how important your words, attention, kindness to children are! Moments like these fill life with meaning.

By helping people, we help ourselves to become who we are in our spiritual essence. We learn to listen to our soul, ignore obsessive thoughts, see joy in the good for others. And most importantly, in helping people, we release our huge potential of unique talents and good intentions that create conditions for our bright future and the future of all mankind.

Help your neighbor - almost everyone knows this biblical commandment. But can anyone say with certainty that he follows it? For some people, helping those in need is a common thing. For others, it's a whole problem that makes you wonder whether to help or not help, what will it be. Yes, in life you always need to calculate your steps. But no one canceled kindness, compassion and mercy. It is on them that humanity rests.

Teachings of Christ

Help your neighbor, Christ taught. Turning to the Bible, reading it, each person sees in it his own, what he perceives due to his moral level of development. In life, it happens that often at the first call for help those people who do not go to church respond. But the one who considers himself a Christian will not always rush to help his neighbor, justifying himself with hundreds of excuses. It is not an indication of a particular faith. This speaks of the inner understanding of a person, of his attitude towards his neighbors. Probably, it is not enough to consider yourself a Christian and go to church, you need to be in your soul.

Nothing in life can be perceived unambiguously by different people. Someone understands neighbors as relatives, friends, someone of the same faith. But even regular parishioners who regularly attend the temple do not always consider those who come to the temple for the first time due to some of their own reasons to be their neighbors. In most cases, a person comes to the temple to the Lord in despair. After all, Jesus Christ considered all people to be neighbors.

Parable of the Good Samaritan

What neighbors to help? The Lord himself gives us an example in the Gospel, telling his disciples the parable of the Good Samaritan. In it, he tells the story that a Jew was robbed and beaten half to death by robbers. The fellow believers passing by him, among whom was the priest, did not help him. Each of them found a reason to leave as soon as possible. And only a Samaritan passing by helped him. He bandaged his wounds, took him to the village and gave money to take care of him until he recovered.

The Samaritans are people who came to Judea and were treated as strangers. What is this silly story about? Not always those who are considered neighbors are ready to help. Often it is provided by those whom we do not know and do not hope for their support. Most priests, when interpreting this parable, say that by the Samaritan Jesus meant himself, calling us to follow him.

"Help your neighbors." How to do it?

This each person decides for himself. Christ said that you need to help people quietly, doing it not for your own glory, but in the name of the Lord. Do not expect any reward for this, gratitude. Because it is done primarily for your soul. By helping others, you help yourself. It cannot be a good deed if a person in it is looking for benefits or good for himself. Just help your neighbor and you will be rewarded. The commandment of God calls us not to think, but to act.

You need to be prepared for the fact that instead of gratitude, you can meet indifference, and sometimes even condemnation. After all, people are different. Some believe that the whole world was created to help them, to fulfill any of their desires. Often a person in trouble is shocked, is in such a degree of despair that he is simply unable to realize and accept someone's help. Waiting for gratitude in this case is stupid.

good for good

You have done a good deed. Everything else is on the conscience of those whom you helped. Gratitude is their problem. Everyone is responsible for their own actions. This should not deprive you of the desire to help your neighbor. During the war, people, risking their lives, fed the captured soldiers, sheltered them from enemies. At the same time, they asked the Lord that on the way of their husbands or children at the front, they would meet good people who could support or help them.

This is another commandment of God, which says that you need to treat people the way you want people to treat you. Help your neighbors, and you will meet kind and sympathetic people in difficult times.

Can good bring evil?

Almost everyone has experienced a situation in which a drunkard asks for money. Before a normal person, the question immediately arises - to give or not to give, since in most cases he does this in order to drink again. This means that the giver contributes to evil, the further fall of man. It is also not a secret that the majority of beggars are the tool of swindlers who make a lot of money, taking advantage of the fact that Christians have such a commandment - help your neighbor.

simple story

Once a priest of a small town forbade beggars to stand on the porch of the church and beg. He simply offered to anyone who needed to work to restore the temple or to do what they could in it for a fee. As you can imagine, there weren't many applicants.

Only two came. Grandmothers said: "Bitter drunkards, what kind of workers are they." One indeed soon took to drink, the other, with the help of work and daily conversations with his father Vasily, desperately struggled with his addiction, and the result was his return to a normal life, family. This priest is right, he helped a person to realize himself, to remember who he really is.

Who needs help

Sometimes it is not enough to give alms. Participation is needed from a person, but can someone who wants to help always do it. There is no single recipe for how to support a person and whether he needs it. After all, not everyone knows how to ask for help. There are people who will disappear, but never dare to bother others with their requests. There are people of a different plan, they always ask for something. This is the principle of their life. So who needs help?

Do you always need to help your neighbor?

A real Christian shouldn't be asked this question. Imagine a person who is asked for help by a suffering person. And he, instead of helping, stands and argues whether it is necessary to do this. No, a true Christian will help according to the call of his heart. Aid is not always expressed in money. Often simple human participation, attention can save a neighbor.

Seeing a man lying on the ground, many hurriedly pass by, thinking that he is drunk. What if it's not? A simple call to the ambulance can save him. Do not pass by and do not look for excuses for yourself. Do a good deed - help your neighbor and you will be rewarded.

In the first epistle of John, ch.3, st. 22, he says that by keeping the commandments of God, we will be rewarded. “And whatever we ask, we will receive from him…”. Help people even if you can't help financially. After all, simple participation is also help. It is important for a person to realize that he is not alone, this gives strength and confidence.

Charity

What is meant by helping others? For the most part, it's money. People donate a lot of money to charity. And where there is money, there are always dishonest people who crave easy money. Type “charity” in the Internet search engine, and your gaze will be presented with an endless list of various types of funds. Choose any.

In America, it is customary to donate a tenth of your income to charity. It is more convenient to work with funds on the principle of "help your neighbor, help those far away." They hold various kinds of charitable events. But scandals around the world with charitable foundations, which are a means of enriching a certain handful of people, do not subside.

They are often clever money laundering and tax evasion scams. With beautiful titles, directed commercials featuring famous actors. But this does not add confidence that the aid will go as intended.

However, if there is a desire to help, then it is worth taking this issue more seriously. Find a family with a sick child or adult. Look around. They may live very close. Look around carefully. There are thousands of people around who are in need. Not everyone talks about it, they pretend that everything is fine. Don't forget that we are just travelers in this world. Remember the frailty of everything material and the immortality of the soul.