addendum...

I had an interesting dream last night.

I was in NY waiting for you. I was in some sort of old dorm type of building and was worried because you were late arriving. There were others around, but I can't seem to recall any specific, significant people. I found you in a very different, open setting. It was a beautiful field and you were there, with a long line of wrapped packages...thousands of them...beautifully wrapped in all colors. You told me that there was supposed to be a gift exchange, but that people just dropped them off and didn't wait to gather and exchange the gifts. Now there was no one to receive them.

It struck me how often we give, because it is comfortable to just leave something and feel as if we are doing good but how rarely we actually receive. It is sterile and impersonal to just leave something for another, without contact or connection. We fool ourselves into believing that the recipient would be ashamed, so we will save them that experience. It is sometimes uncomfortable to be the recipient, particularly if you have nothing tangible to offer in return (I hate birthdays for this reason). But the cycle requires both donors and recipients, equally important in the process. It also impressed me how people give...they do it without personal connection to decrease their own discomfort. Dropping money off in the offertory plate, dropping clothes at Good Will, dropping food for the homeless at the pantry...

I recently stayed and ate dinner with the homeless. I had one of the most interesting conversations that I had with a young black man, there with his wife and 2 kids. He was quite intelligent and yet lacked the resources to make it. 

Many years ago we responded to a newspaper ad for a family with a need for a crib. After contacting the paper we were directed to deliver it to the family in the northern part of the county. The home was falling apart. The young mother was intellectually disabled, living in her parents home. There were several other sisters, also disabled living together with other older children. Husband went into the home and set up the crib for them. I stayed outside and talked with the rest of the family. It was eye-opening, to say the least. 

It still amazes me that there is such disparity...financially, intellectually, opportunity...in so many ways. 

Or is this diversity?

A lot to think about,

Maggie