This past weekend Canada celebrated
Thanksgiving, and since I am Canadian, I was thinking about all the items,
corporal and spiritual, that I am grateful for.
The list was made even more discernable after visiting some of our participants’
houses last Friday. Visiting the places
where some of our ladies reside was thought provoking. The house visits gave us the opportunity so
see what the needs of our participants are first hand, thus ensuring that Bijlmer
Bridge2Hope is better able work towards truly improving the needs of our
ladies.
It was a privilege to be welcomed into the participants’
residences with open arms, a cup of tea or juice, and an openness and
thankfulness expressed for the effects that they do have.
We surely do live a life of privilege… many
times we do not realize just how much we have, or how blessed we truly
are. Sometimes we fall into a pattern of
looking at the negative side of life, seeing only the things in our house that need
fixing, complaining about a lack of clothes when our wardrobe is full, or saying
we need a new pair of shoes, even though we already have ten other pairs in the
front hall, or looking in the fridge and seeing “nothing” to eat.
Looking at the circumstances of others definitely
gives one a new perspective to think about when they feel themselves slipping
into a negative pattern of thinking. We all, no matter our situations, have
something to be thankful about. I for
one am thankful for the opportunity to work with our participants in Bijlmer
Bridge2Hope. They are beautiful
individuals who teach me as much as I am hopefully teaching them…
