The Double Healing Effect
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. Luke 10:33, 34, NIV.
Dale Shields fell into a deep depression after having seven bypass operations. He thought he had nothing to live for and abandoned all hope in himself and in life. Then one day as he was fishing at a wharf in Florida, he saw a pelican trapped and dying in the rocks. He rescued the pelican, took it home, and cared for it until it was well again. Since then Dale Shields has dedicated his life to the rescue of thousands of birds wounded by helicopter rotors or fishing nets and lines. They call him "the pelican man."
The amazing fact is that in aiding others, he helped himself and discovered the "double healing effect." In saving helpless birds, he ended up saving himself. He found a reason to live. "Those birds need me," he says. "Someone has to help a bird in need."
If only more people would discover the double healing effect and reach out to others instead of focusing on themselves and their miserable condition. Abraham Lincoln expressed it well when he said that by relieving the pain of another, one relieves their own.
Dr. Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist, once gave a lecture on mental health and was answering questions from the audience.
"What would you advise a person to do," asked one man, "if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?"
Most people expected him to reply, "Consult a psychiatrist." To their astonishment, he said, "Lock up your house, go across the railway tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person."
I like the thought that Ellen G. White expresses: "Doing good is a work that benefits both giver and receiver. If you forget self in your interest for others, you gain a victory over your infirmities. The satisfaction you will realize in doing good will aid you greatly in the recovery of the healthy tone of the imagination. The pleasure of doing good animates the mind and vibrates through the whole body" (Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 534).
I challenge you to begin serving others and experience for yourself the double healing effect!
Lord, give me the good Samaritan's heart to serve others unselfishly.
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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