Piggy Back Rides and Porkies

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It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help. 

-Epicurus

We recently spent some time at the lake with my parents. Landon absolutely loves the water, most of the time. (His autism does have a huge unpredictability factor so I am always ready for his possible aversion/ meltdown/sensory overload tantrum even if he normally likes a certain activity. 😊 Go with the flow is my motto with him.) 

So anyway, Landon LOVES water, but he doesn’t always like what it takes to get to experience it. We have to change from regular clothes to the swimsuit. We have to put on sunscreen (which he hates) and put on the dreaded water shoes (which he hates even more). Usually he won’t keep the water shoes on for more than a couple of minutes. 

There is a major problem with that however …. “porkies.” 

You may be wondering what exactly “porkies” are. I’m so glad you asked. 😊 “Porkies” is the term Landon uses for the little thorn-like, tiny round sticky spurweed which grow in the grass. Unfortunately there are many, many porkies around the lake. Landon knows this, but yet he abhors his water shoes. He’s pretty smart though. His solution to this is simple- hitch piggy back rides down to the lake- that way he completely avoids porkies! He knows Mama, Baba, Daddy or whomever is around, will give him a ride to get him to his beloved water which he usually, but not always, enjoys. “Get on back, please,” he says.

Porkies. We all have some porkies we have to deal with in life.  Sometimes the porkies are little obstacles between us and our goal. They are mixed in among the good things in life and remind us that we live in an imperfect world, which is not our true home. Sometimes when we step on one, it really hurts and we want to avoid the area. Sometimes we don’t want to wear our water shoes to protect ourselves from the porkies and we end up with a whole bunch stuck in our feet. Sometimes though we ask for help from a friend or from the Lord or maybe even both to get us past the porkies. We put away our pride and humbly ask to “get on back please” like Landon does. 

I think sometimes that is exactly what we are meant to do. It is almost a relief to finally say “hey, I need a little help here.” It’s both a freeing and humbling experience when we realize we can’t do everything ourselves and we ask for assistance in dealing with our problem.

I don’t know about you, but my life often feels full of “porkies” and I don’t always ask for help. Maybe you are the same way.  Landon reminds me that is okay to have a little help being carried over the sticky spurweed life often provides.

 Porkies will always be present in life while we are on this earth, but Jesus wants us to know it’s totally okay to ask Him and others for help. We are created to need Jesus and others in this life. Often our porkies don’t seem so bad as long we know a friend is there helping us along the way. Then before we know it, it’ll be our turn to give someone a piggy back ride. 😊

I would rather walk with a friend in the dark than alone in the light. 

-Hellen Keller

Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer.

-Ed Cunningham

Proverbs 17:17

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Ecclesiastes 4:10

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

Your friend,

Tiffany