How may I help you?

I care about those around me. I try to show it. How do you know it's needed if you aren't the one who needs it?

When I care about others I often see things that I think need filling -- from sugar bowls to hearts. I think it's needed because I have needed it before. A gallon of milk, a gas tank, a hug, a quiet talk...I can only recognize "need" as I have known my own needs.

There are some needs we all have and can't mistake. There are some needs unique to each of us.

How do you know you are filling what's truely needed when it's not you who needs it and it's not a need you have had?

I don't. I can only offer to fill the needs as I see them.

I'm really filling the needs [i]I know[/i] in those I meet; My needs. I can only hope it's close enough to what they really need that it helps them.

Can you fill a need if you have not known the need?

I think we can. I think we can see another's plight and aid them even when we don't understand why they think they need something we have never needed so badly. It's not a need you have had, it's not important to you, but you reach out to help them fill it...I think that is love; To help another be all of the best that they are.

I need to love and be loved. I see that as a need in all of us. Whether it truely is a need or not, I see it that way.

When I see someone who needs to be loved it touches my heart. My heart is ripped when I can't fill that need. When all expression of caring is denied by them you can't soothe their hurts. They will not let others love them.

When I see someone who has stopped loving, it makes my heart ache for them. Denying yourself that need, to me, is the same as standing in a blizzard naked. To stop loving others is to kill something in yourself, as I see it.

So the basic reason I fill the needs around me is because I NEED to love. To show people they are loved is secondary, really.

That's a hard thing to say. I want to be caring for others to show them there is one who cares for us all, but I know now it's my need to give love that I am filling...

When I fill anyone's need, I am filling my own....I'll keep reaching out to each I meet. Now I think I understand why I do.