Reflection on Day One by Ruth Pattison

Our First Day

24 hours or more of transportation and transition. airports and security and traveling through time, and tedious lines through customs and kind people who say 'thank you for paying taxes'. Upside down and inside out and changing rooms around at Karen Inn to get the beds right and sleeping needs attended to. Mosquito nets for everyone and the girls' bunk room adorned with nets like a fairy princess extravaganza.  

So that is the fodder of our conversation tonight after dinner.  With the discomforts of jet lag, diet, and disorientation that seem to rule the day, still. . . after a day of worship and shared meals and the hospitality of those with so little who give so much, we were all lifted as some among us said:  "I felt loved", and another, "I felt joy". And that is why we're here, isn't it? To find love. To find joy. To see the face of the God we never knew before today.

We brought a way to play together- SpikeBall, courtesy of Annie Dimon, and spent the afternoon as the children we are, playing.  Most of our group (those who aren't afraid of heights) climbed the water tower structure at the Comet House - for the view, and the climb. and the challenge. 

And isn't that the crux of it all, our life in the spirit. We play. We sing and dance by the moving of the holy spirit in worship and we play dusty games for the fun of it, and take it on for the challenge of it. We have come to know each other in new ways. Each other,  and God, and our own group, and the boys we have come to serve.

One little boy took Benno's hand at the end of the afternoon to get his attention until he looked him in the eye so he could ask: "Are you going to come back tomorrow?".
And that, indeed, is the crux of it all. To come back tomorrow. 
We don't know what tomorrow will hold, but we will come back. Because today has been full and rich and exhausting, just in such a way that gives us hope for tomorrow
and the courage to come back.

Ruth+