A Mind on Vacation/Holiday

Being away on vacation/holiday is a transformation of mind in itself. I take my consciousness and I move it to a different place and time. I am on hiatus from the familiar mental paths I run, and I can float above the events of this new place and enjoy things without feeling responsible for them.

I live on the West Coast of the United States and I'm spending three weeks on the East Coast of the United States, visiting family. My mother works at a shelter for the homeless, a lovely farm in the countryside north of the Chesapeake Bay. In this county, people are split--many church-going people have large compassionate hearts and want to help the many homeless families and individuals of this area, while others see the homeless as eyesores who need to be moved elsewhere to be looked after. Clairvaux Farm is a part of a community called Meeting Ground. At the farm, there is a building for mothers and children, a building for men, a building for paid and volunteer staff, a community center, a kitchen and dining hall, a chapel, a maintenance barn, and a donations barn. Soon there will be a building for work camp volunteers.

Ten miles away in the town of Elkton, there is a house for women and children, a house for men, a house for staff and volunteers, and now, recently acquired, a building to be used as an education center for all the residents.

I have watched this organization grow since its inception, providing necessary care for many many families and individuals and volunteer opportunities for many many caring people fortunate enough to have homes and family who will look after them when they need help.

I am grateful that there are dedicated people in this world, angels, who are working at their missions doggedly, determinedly, despite those who would rather point fingers and criticize. I am grateful that, when I have been homeless, there were programs and individuals who helped me, till I was back on my feet.

Last year, the city of Elkton bulldozed the woods where a number of homeless had made their makeshift homes. The homeless watched helplessly as their last meager possessions were pushed into a heap. Fortunately, the outcry from the public was so pervasive that every church in the area put their resources together to start a Rotating Shelter for the winter season. Each week over the winter a different church takes responsibility for housing and feeding 25 homeless people in their church facilities. This year the churches are eager to take their part in the Rotating Shelter again.

What a light is shining!

Blessed be.