Today someone brought very nice "goodie" bags for the homeless youth. They had lots of pretty wrapped Valentine candy in them. What a wonderful surprise! And it led to this experience...
As I spoke with "Angela", she voiced anger about someone who was, she felt, competing with in the ability to earn money. Angela started a business distributing advertising. She invited a friend to help her, but her friend is now competing with her and even bringing other people into the area. So now Angela feels she can't make as much money. This angered her quite a lot!
Later, I sat with Angela with my bag of chocolate. I sort of played with it while we talked. We spoke about many things, including her deep seated struggles with anger. At some point, we were interrupted by "Robert" who was going around trying to gather up much chocolate as he could... much more than he could eat. I offered him two of mine. Both Robert and Angela were suprised that I would give up my chocolate. I took the opportunity to share:
"There are several reasons why I might give someone my chocolates. The first is that I simply don't want the chocolate very much. Put another way, I want him to have them more than I want them. Another is that there is a basket right over there where I can get more chocolate. There is plenty and I know it! And even if the basket were empty, I'm know people here (pointing at a table with many youth sitting around it) and I could go over there and say, 'I gave away my chocolate but now I would like one. Would one of you share a chocolate with me?' I know someone would share."
Do you see? Angela did see. As the light dawned that she might not need to be angry at her friend, she laughed and said I was tricky to tell her that story. Of course, we can all benefit from the story.
There is no limit to how many smiles you can give away today. There is no quota on compliments you can dish out today. No real limit on love, compassion, prayers, understanding. God has given you a wonderful goodie bag to share, with all sorts of specially crafted gifts. They are not for you alone. They are to be shared.
Thanks for the goodies today. They were an unexpected blesing.
Street Youth Ministry of Austin exists to know, love and serve street-dependent youth. The first step of our mission is to notice street youth. Then we must understand their culture to know how to love and serve them. SYM spends time every day with more than 100 young adults. We provide basic services, counseling, referral to services, and Christian guidance counseling. It it a privilege to know these young people.
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