"What if anything have you and I done to do battle against the great darkness of things?"- Frederick Buechner
This statement from Buechner's daily meditation "Listening to your Life" stuck out to me when reading it last night. Lately, I have been asking myself that question too much from the perspective of despair and hopelessness.
When people ask me what I am doing this year, and I tell them that I work for a homeless ministry, too often I get responses like "Oh, that's so wonderful what you're doing!" or "That must be such rewarding work." Honestly, I don't know how to reply to these reactions. What I really want to say sometimes is "You know what? A lot of times it's not rewarding at all...it's hard and painful and heartbreaking. Too often I feel like the need is just too great."
Don't get me wrong, I still love the Campus and the values it stands for...it truly is a light to so many men and women who have no family outside of it. However, it doesn't stop me from wondering sometimes, "What am I doing to battle against the great darkness of things?"
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Great post. When people get to the end of society's road we're the people standing there to meet them. It's not all smiles and pats on the back when you get to that point, and people who aren't in our situation don't always get that. Thanks for being there with us, though, Leslie. The small moments of light make it all worth it.
ReplyDeleteJeff