By +Jeanne Takenaka @JeanneTakenaka
My Five Minute Friday prompt this week is—Care. This largely unedited “rough draft” form of writing stretches this perfectionist, in the best of ways. I write for five minutes on a given topic. If you’re interested in learning more about 5-Minute Fridays, check out our hostess, Kate Motaung’s site. Or, click on the link at the bottom of this post. As you read my simpler Friday posts, I hope you’ll join in the conversation!
CARE
I’ve been pondering this word, CARE, since I saw it as the word prompt for today. What can I write about this word that people don’t already know?
I’m learning that to care for someone is more than simply saying “I care for you. I’m here for you.” It’s follow through, action, prayer, words.
Sometimes my kids need to know I care for them. After a fight, after mom or child fail, care needs to show itself in words and action.
In a broader scope, we show care for each other by caring enough to ask how another person is doing, and really listening to the answer. To look for ways to come alongside, encourage. We show care by bringing their needs before Our Father in Heaven. But care shows itself when we take time out of our own busy days to reach out to someone else.
When I had surgery a few years ago, friends cared enough to stop by and visit during my recovery. They brought meals for my family. They took my kids so my husband could be with me.
These actions of caring spoke deeply to my soul, to the inner fabric of who I am.
Care is more than words—it’s heart action. Reaching out to someone else to make their load easier. To encourage and strengthen with words. It’s being in community (physical or virtual) and reaching beyond our own comfort zones, and extending concern to others.
Caring happens when we look beyond ourselves and see the hearts of others, the wounds, the needs, and we do what we’re able to do to help them.
Praying…words of life…actions.
Reaching out to others in the ways we’re gifted to do so.
What about you? What has someone done that showed care to you? How do you show care to others?
Jeanne Takenaka 
Jeanne- I always love your posts… but this one truly speaks to me. I love this simple line: “Care is more than words—it’s heart action” Beautifully written, encouraging, and convicting. Thanks for sharing this!
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Thanks for your kind words, Karen! Yes, I’m challenged when I think of what it really means to show I CARE about others, because I’m not always very good at showing it, or moving beyond my own busy-ness to be concerned for others. Sad, I know.
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Some time ago, I was convicted to really listen to the response when I asked someone how they were. It’s really easy to just keep moving swiftly through life, wrapped up in our own needs and struggles and pain, but to take time to really show we care in this way, so often speaks the love of Christ right into a careworn heart. Thank you for the lovely reminder!
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You are so right! Taking those few extra moments to show we care by really listening can mean so much to someone. Like you, I get caught up in my own tyranny of the urgent and forget to take my head out of my concerns and show someone I care about them. Sometimes, it is my kids who need a couple minutes of my undivided attention. Taking that time to cuddle together and just listen? It restores both of us. The same is true when we listen to others. 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by!
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Yes, listening really does show that you care!
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Hi, I’m visiting from the 5mf link up today.
I agree that caring a lot of times needs to beyond words. Actions play an important role. They give words their meaning.
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Well said: Our actions give our words meaning. They back up what we say, yes? I’m so glad you stopped by. Thanks!
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Love this! Yes, care is going far beyond words. It is action!
For me, it’s the little things… Coming home to the trash can being empty or dinner being cooked (or delivered).
There’s so many ways to care for someone, but I like to send cards or texts with words of encouragement. Taking a meal to someone or sending a gift card. Spending one-on-one time with folks.
(Stopping by FMF!)
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I like your examples of showing how you care. My natural ways are similar to yours: a card, a meal, a few moments where my focus is solely on the other person….
My hubby is great at showing he cares by serving—like taking out the trash, doing dishes, putting the kids to bed so I can have a few moments to call my own…. I love that there are different ways to show people we care about them.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
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Yes! True care is so much deeper and more holistic than just words…
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I like the way you describe it, Annie—holistic. True care touches a deep place inside us, doesn’t it? Thanks so much for stopping by, friend.
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What a powerful post. Loved the line, “Care is more than words—it’s heart action. Reaching out to someone else to make their load easier”…absolutely, care is something that is so holistic, so much more than words or simple deeds, its, really, a whole framework for living.
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I like that way of describing care—holistic, a framework for living. May we consistently have eyes to see how we can care for others! I appreciate you stopping by!
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Beautiful post today, Jeanne! When I got home from conference this year my house was cleaner than when I left it…my husband and kids went out of their way to show they cared and I absolutely felt it.
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Awww, Michelle. What a wonderful treat to come home to! It’s so nice to be cared for when we’re weary. I’m glad your family did that for you. 😄
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The hardest kind of care is doing your best for someone who’ll only find fault.
Still worth doing, because care expressed is the manifestation of all those things that make life worth living – decency, honor, and fair play.
Great post.
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You’re right, Andrew. That is the hardest aspect of caring. It’s tough to keep at it when the effort is not only not a knowledged, but disparaged. Sometimes the care that we show may not be recognized but may have an unseen affect on the recipient. I love how you can look beyond the response to the bigger picture of what can come from caring for another.
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Please forgive the typo. My phone’s autocorrect struck again. It was supposed to be “acknowledge.” NOT “a knowledge.” Sigh.
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I love how our care takes different forms depending on our gifts. My sister in law is an amazing cook. Even though we are 12 hours away from one another, she often makes a batch of frozen meals packs them in a cooler and has us bring them home. She uses her gift.
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Wow, Lisa! What a great way for your sister-in-law to show her care for your family. 🙂 I love how she uses her giftings to bless others. 🙂
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This is one of the best examples of caring I know of: Author Leo Buscaglia was asked to judge a contest to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old boy whose elderly neighbor had recently lost his wife. The boy noticed the man was sitting outside on a bench so he walked over to him and crawled into his lap. He sat there for some time. When he returned home his mother asked what he had said to the man, the boy replied, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”
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Gene, what a beautiful example of caring in the ways we know how to. I love this story and the sensitivity of that young boy. Oh, that we all had the sensitivity to know when to simply be there for someone else. Thank you for sharing this!
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