Beautiful Bricks and a new Era

 'Your work produced by Faith, your labour prompted by Love and your endurance inspired by Hope'
1 Thessalonians 1:3

I spent several hours yesterday wrapping bricks in red ribbon.  The good people at Patene's in Guelph were a little confounded when I told them I needed 30 bricks for an AIDS clinic in Lesotho.  They accepted my explanation and helped me load these five pound babies into the trunk of my small car.  The tow lift driver lifted five at a time.  I stuck with two.  We went off into a conversation about how many more people in the world today are struggling to survive.  He gave me a pearl of wisdom that I have tucked away for future use.  I love parking lot pearls of wisdom.

At this time of year I usually find myself in my kitchen cutting out gingerbread men.  Bricks are an entirely different entity.  I wrapped each with great care, three Bracelet of Hope bracelets folded in.  I thought of the people attending our event tonight who will see the unveiling of a new clinic.  I thought of the people in Lesotho who will find a place of hope and healing as they cross the threshold of that clinic.  I thought of a community here working towards such a miraculous change in the lives of people there and I thought of how that wonderfully woven interchange between two countries has the ability to  heal and transform us all.

My children complain constantly about my epic, pie in the sky thoughts.  

We need that healing.  Our children need the hope that comes from this kind of work.  They need to see the great power that explodes out of group of good people committed to something much bigger than them.  They need to experience a new confidence in our world and in the human beings that seem to be making such a mess of it.  Three tables will be filled with young people tonight.  I have strategically placed a group of high school, university and college students.  It is their creativity, wisdom and intelligence that we need to grow and encourage to make our world a healthier place for the future.

Hundreds of HIV positive men, women and children lined up for care at the clinic I worked at in 2006 and 2007 in Lesotho.  So many of them died.  I can still see all of them filling the hall way, standing room only, their heads raised to the ceiling belting out the beautiful African harmonies of the morning praise and worship time.  How can they sing when their lives are so desperate?  How can they smile when their children are dying?  How can they worship when their lives seem to have so little hope?

This nine year herculean effort has been for them.  These beautiful bricks represent my hope for them.  This beautiful new clinic will be filled with their strength, their courage, their faith and their love.  They will raise the roof with their songs and hymns.  I and many others will have the privilege of being part of that.  It is not pie in the sky.  It is real and possible and totally epic.

Ushering in a new era:

https://chimp.net/groups/braceletofhope3forfree

Click on, spread freely, join in.