PEANUT BUTTER & GOD
I don’t know what this is. A poem? Something like that. This is a personal expression of homeless ministry. A small look into the realities of street life.
How can you look into their eyes and see anything but worth?
People, made in the image of their loving Father, tossed aside like garbage.
The places they call home have no walls. Confined only by their lack of dignity, humanity imprisons them.
Hundreds of eyes, passing by, day by day, never to meet.
Have you ever sat and talked?
“People are laughing in the gutters”, she said to me.
Joy amidst the darkness.
“That’s f****** beautiful.”
The light cannot be overcome, its comfort never wasted- so why not take it to the darkest places?
Welcomed into her space with such kindness, sitting on the sidewalk. 9pm Sunday.
“You don’t just hand out sandwiches and leave…”; because it’s not always about a physical need. Humanity beckons.
“You actually get to know the person.” And would you not want to, when incredible stories lie, undiscovered?
A poet, beautiful, mother to all- bound by a wheelchair, but freed by her love- my friend Royce calls the streets her home.
How many more like her, surrounded by the world, and yet alone, unnoticed.
Wisdom untapped, waiting to be heard. If only we would stop to listen.
Laughter, joy, pain, tears- left unexpressed. If only we would stop to feel.
Love freely given to us, to give to others; in a smile, sandwich, or listening ear- precious lives and countless stories that we often never hear.
To choose love is to choose to dignify the people that the world forgot. Or as my friend Royce would say, “Would you like some Peanut Butter and God?”