Grateful

Here I sit in preparation for another journey.  I can't believe that tomorrow I will be in Belize.  It is hard to believe how fast the past few months have gone by, and even more hard to believe that I raised all my money for this trip.  I feel SO grateful for this opportunity and privilege to go to Cahal Pech, Belize.  Our group has been working hard to raise money to give the kids at Faith Nazerence a playground, and the day has come for us to go and see the fruits of our labor (and their construction team!).  It is hard to put how blessed I feel into words at this moment because I sit awestruck that the opportunity for me to learn and travel has again been offered.  I look forward to a trip where there will be conversation with new friends, time for devotion, and time for service and less time for replying to emails and messages.  Although I will return a little less physically rested, I hope this trip allows me to come back refreshed spiritually and emotionally as I dive into what will be the last few months of my time at Meredith.  This is time, and there is no time like the present! 


And through it all, we remember to hope:

Hope nonetheless.
Hope despite.
Hope regardless.
Hope still.

Hope where we had ceased to hope.
Hope amid what threatens hope.
Hope with those who feed our hope.
Hope beyond what we had hoped.

Hope that draws us past our limits.
Hope that defies expectations.
Hope that questions what we have known.
Hope that makes a way where there is none.

Hope that takes us past our fear.
Hope that calls us into life.
Hope that holds us beyond death.
Hope that blesses those to come.

-Jan Richardson