The Pillmans

Hello family and friends,  We are getting excited about the arrival of the new year 2021, but here is what we have been up to this past year, 2020, in case you were curious...    We had the goal as a family to try and find ways to be twice as helpful this year, but found it extremely difficult under the circumstances. You guessed it, Covid-19, among other things, shook up our lives in more ways than one. Nonetheless, it has been an interesting year, particularly full of family time, rest, and reflection.     However, we have been blessed in different ways than are normally expected: Such as purchasing a new house two months earlier than planned. We were able to move in early summer and secure it even after 15 other offers! Each day we continue to be thankful for God’s provision of more space, being closer to Lucas’ work, and the unexpected things such as a nice view looking out at our deck and backyard. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, we have still been able to host family and friends.

Another pitfall but also an opportunity surrounds the core question of “who is my neighbor” when it comes to how we measure helpfulness. While I write this my daughter is patiently asking for me to play with her doll. I might by helping someone by writing this (That’s the hope. More on this later.) but at the same time I’m not helping my daughter learn and grow. The key then to understanding being more helpful is that it both includes those close to me like my wife and daughter even as we partner together to be more helpful to others. Jesus answered this question with a story: The Good Samaritan.  The answer to the question of who is those in our path of life that need mercy. I think of this sometimes like a pyramid weighted by need and opportunity. At the bottom of the pyramid is my family. I see them often and I’m responsible for much love and mercy as it relates to them. And it is a pleasure for the record. Next are those I already have a commitment to and interact with of

Many goals are setup around improving ourselves or situation in life. Get a promotion at work, find that soulmate to marry, or even find a gym and get in shape. Yet, I think each one of us is called more to help others and not put ourselves first.   Our family goal this year is to double our helpfulness to others. Worthy and lofty as the goal may first appear, I find several distinct challenges and many possible pitfalls along the journey. Indeed, at this moment I don’t even know how to decide or measure we were twice as helpful in 2020. For example, how do I know what the baseline of helpfulness is? How helpful was I in 2019? It’s unclear. There is no helpfulness score. No number, no metric. So that will be part of the what we will discover this year. Next up, helpful to who, how, and why.