Sometimes the Light Breaks Through

Today my friends Michelle  and Sherri hosted a shower for Melda, an elderly lady on the Rez that we are building a new kitchen for.   I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I can tell you that I was not expecting what happened. 

I knew there would be lots of gifts for Melda. That's a given. The people at our church love to do stuff like that. Show 'em a need and tell 'em how they can love somebody and they're all over it. But what happened today was something beyond just the gifts.

The women who showed up seemed genuinely interested in hearing about Melda. Today I went to the shower not expecting to say a whole lot. Sometimes I feel like everyone is tired of hearing me talk about Pine Ridge. Sometimes I get tired of talking about it. And sometimes, usually this time of year when I'm overly tired and overly stressed, I get all out of sorts and wonder if anyone cares. I even wonder if I care on really bad days. But today from the moment I walked in, these ladies had question after question. They seemed to really want to know about Melda and what life is like on the Reservation.

I guess I've never really had a chance to talk about it a lot at church. When we get home from the trip we do a short presentation, but that is mostly sharing about our trip and what happened during that time. I don't believe I've ever just addressed "Life on the Rez". I feel like I talk about stats and the like all the time but not ever at church. I have wished for time ... sometime... to share about some of the really cool stories I have. Stories about how God has moved at a given time. But there never seems to be time. Maybe one day....

So anyway, today while I was feeling all stressed out and exhausted and not really caring a whole heck of a lot, I was surprised to find that people cared. They even watched a couple of videos I've put together about the Rez and talked about the injustice and laughed at the fun stuff. Amazing. And at some point in the middle of all of that, I felt it ... the joy of knowing that in 12 days I'll be on the Rez again ... the joy of knowing that what we do does in fact make a difference ... and knowing that it also makes a difference in the lives of those here at home.

Sometimes the light breaks through. I took the pic above last week at my son's softball game. It pretty much says how I feel about today.