We cannot do much, but we can make our little sacrifices and deny ourselves, and be patient, and keep cheerful, and so perhaps help those who suffer more, and make the waiting shorter for the rest, if we keep our hands busy and our hearts light.
Smallness is not useless here. Parallel verbs turn helplessness into a list of helps. The counsel ties cheer to service. In the plot’s war-shadow, this keeps despair from spreading. The longer pull sacralizes ordinary giving. Readers get a humane way to wait. Busy hands, light hearts—good medicine.