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GOOD MORNING

The foundation - through the amalgamation of two earlier societies - of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children on this day in 1889, makes me think of faces from the families under stress I have known. 

Like the mother with three autistic children who described with an absence of self-pity, an existence in which she has been out of the house alone only twice in eighteen months; and went for weeks without an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

Like the widowed mother of another young person with severe learning difficulties, whom I asked: did she get some respite when he went to bed? 

No, she said: because I have to go to bed with him and tie myself to him: it’s the only way of making sure he is safe.

How would I cope without a break, a holiday, a day off - while dealing with the most challenging behaviour often in isolation?

Much of what enriches our community depends on volunteers - often galvanised by charitable organisations supporting them: from marriage guidance to bereavement counselling, from manning the helpline to training the team, unpaid volunteers strengthen the invisible bonds that connect our society and enrich it.

Practical neighbourliness, a personal decision to take responsibility for the local needs we know, and the caring expressed in volunteering is important for our community.

Often the help needed by those in desperate need is as little as an hour or two in the week providing an oasis; as simple as a bit of company lifting from isolation.

The face of the other in need challenges me to ask what, practically, am I going to do for the people around me?

Author of life, teach us compassion for others; protect children in danger; lift the burdens of families under stress this day.

AMEN