The good and...

In three weeks I will be leaving the reserve to come back to southern Ontario. I don't want to leave yet. I do want to see my friends. But I like the pace of life here, the children we read with, that children come to our door just to hang out (well, some come to get freezies and leave), that I open my back door every morning to stare out at mostly untouched nature, not a building in sight on the other side...

All that said, I don't want to idealize or paint paradise of this place. There are good things. There are also tough things. I'm hesitant to write about the problems. It's easy to talk freely about the beauty, the joys, the successes. There are many of those. I'm uneasy about sharing just yet of other parts of res life. I think I could say many Canadians have a vague perception of what it might be like through the news and other media sources. There are many stereotypes portrayed, however, which aren't exactly true or fair.

What I want to emphasize is that seeds of hope are growing. We need to keep praying. As was discussed in our Bible study last week, we also need to start being the answers to our own prayers - by that I mean not just shrugging responsibility off to some Higher Being, but allowing the possibility that this Higher Being might have given us the ability to do something about our prayers ourselves. We say "God, please help that person" and maybe He says back to us, "Why don't you help that person?" This doesn't mean I know how, exactly. Maybe that is the prayer: not "God help them", but "God, how can I help them?"

For tonight, I pray for wisdom, energy and lots more joy. Laughter is always a good start!