Distraction...

So I realize I haven't done a very good job updating recently. Really my life hasn't been so super exciting. School started, I'm already a little overwhelmed, I went home this past weekend for Labor Day, that was good and relaxing and quick, and now I'm back here at school.

Today, though, I was thinking about New York and how much I missed it, which is something I think about a lot actually. It too was stressful and busy, but in a different sort of way.

Today, though, I was thinking about one of my favorite ministries called the Green Team. The Green Team is run by New York's Horticulture society and is also a rehabilitation program for people just coming out of prison. For the record these aren't hardened criminals. It's people who have spent less than a year in prison for a not super serious crime. They are given a paid internship with the Green Team and learn landscaping skills, so that will then be able to get a job. The guy in charge, Mark, is one of the most interesting guys I've ever met. He knows a lot about history and plants and likes to impart his knowledge about both subjects on us volunteers and his workers.

I loved the chance to play in the dirt and plant things...because who thought that during my summer in the middle of New York City I would have a chance to garden? I loved getting random bits of information about the city's history and I loved talking to the people who were there working beside me, and getting to learn about gardening from them.

Then I remember being impressed by Mark and his love for the people who worked for them. Unless you already knew that most of them were just out of prison then walking up you would have never been able to tell. Mark treated them all with respect and trusted them as you would anybody else. He was passionate about his gardens and about helping his workers to learn the skills they needed and he did all of it without any judgment or condescension.

Why can't we all love like that all the time?