“Help, I need somebody. Help, not just anybody…. Help me get my feet back on the ground…. When I was much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in any way… But those days are gone and I’m not feeling so self-assured…. Now I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors….” Those are bits of the 1965 Beatles hit song, “Help!” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
In a recent dream, I was tasked with the responsibility of teaching young children about how God answers prayers. I started with the universal beseeching prayer, “Help me!” By the way, to “beseech,” is to eagerly beg.
First, I have to stipulate that REM sleep is vital to our health and well-being. And it’s during REM-sleep that we dream.
There are a couple of mental health benefits to dreaming, one is overnight therapy for frayed emotions. The other is to problem-solve and tank up on a fresh supply of creativity. So, our dreams can be one way that God answers our prayer for Help!
In my dream, I counseled those kids that it’s very unusual for God to help us directly or instantly with a supernatural levitation or lifting us out of our pickle. That’s kind of the definition of a miracle, and these are rare. They happen, but not usually.
So, how does God help us, when we cry out, “Help me!” Well, referring to John Lennon’s observation, we might get some help for our problem, by “opening up the doors.”
One way to open a door when your “feet aren’t on the ground,” or your feet were taken out from under you, or you’re grounded in some way, is to sleep on it.
You’re already “down,” so just stay there for a time. Just pull the covers over your head, drown out the sounds that put you down, and sleep.
“Let me sleep on it,” is often said when we need to make a decision and need a bit of time to think about it. Why does sleep help in such circumstances? Because we will maybe get a dream-answer without taxing our waking brain into overtime.
How many times have we gone to sleep in emotional turmoil and when sleep finally came, we awakened, and it wasn’t so bad? The answer to our stressed mind was REM-sleep’s dream therapist, whether we remember our dreams or not.
Another way to open the door to Help, is other people. And, “not just anybody,” or not? I disagree with Lennon and McCartney on this. I think perhaps God sometimes sends random people, “just anybody,” to supply just the kind of help we need.
Have you ever exclaimed, “that was weird,” or “that was odd,” or my favorite, “go figure,” when someone did something for you or said something to you that was randomly kind? Just when you needed it most.
One way of opening up the door to help, is positivity. When you’re negative, you’ve inadvertently locked the doors to goodness, mercy, kindness, and help. Just turn the key and crack open the door, peek outside and look.
“Help is on the way!” But you must be open to it. Another way of closing the doors to help is, stubborn expectations.
Whoa baby, if you want help, but you’re stipulating to God or yourself in your minds eye, exactly how you must receive that help, you might as well lock all the doors, take a pill and go to dreamless sleep. You can’t dream with a pill, and nobody can get through your mind’s bolted door to help you.
“Help me get my feet back on the ground,” is really a cry for self-help. You need to get your feet back underneath you. Your feet.
You know the adage, “don’t give fish to someone in need, teach them how to fish.” The same goes for getting your feet back on the ground. The best help we can receive is the gift of self-help or problem-solving skills, knowledge, or wisdom.
I wonder where I can get knowledge? How about a book, any book. Reading opens doors to an unknown universe.
I’ve learned valuable gems of self-help, from reading the least likely books, articles, or chapters. It need not be a “self-help” book, but try biographies, fiction, poetry, or a random bible verse.
Help is found most often when you’re not looking for it, but when you’re going about your business and getting on with things. Do what you need to do, putting one foot in front of the other one and help will show up.
Sooner or later, you’ll get the help you need. The Beatles are a pretty unusual answer to a cry for help. But maybe their whimsical lyrical insights may help generate an answer to prayer or open the door to Happenstance, “a chance happening?”
A line from the 1993 comedy-drama, Mrs. Doubtfire, which we watched with our young daughter, over and over again, was delivered by the lead actor, Robin Williams in his character, Mrs. Doubtfire. I can hear it as if he were standing in our living room today in 2023, “Help is on the way!” What do you say, we believe him.