Who Teaches Who?

Today's mail brought a very special card...

Inside, the card says.....to a kindhearted you.  Taking the time to represent us guys in blue.  The card is covered in thank you notes from J.J. and the men who wrote special shout-outs to their mothers for Mother's Day.  One man after another, thanking me for the time I give to this project.  For sharing the space with them to have a voice.  And for helping them bless their families with special shout-outs and love.

What the guys and their families need to know is that THEY teach me.  J.J., his friends, and their families bless my life with strength, patience, forgiveness, the power of positivity, and unconditional love.

I am blessed to have J.J. in my life.  I am blessed by this project.  For many reasons.  Most often, I am blessed that J.J. has something positive and productive in his life.  That he can sit on his rack and write or draw (doing his time in a healthy way), and that something productive will happen with his thoughts and amazing art.  It is a great blessing to share the space with other men in blue and their families.  To be a part of helping families stay connected and feel the love no matter the distance or fence that separates them.  Today those very men blessed me.  Not because I needed a pat on the back.  But as I read their notes, I smiled (after a hard week) and thought "these guys are teaching me!  They are the ones reminding me to see the positive part of life."

I know how J.J. does his time, and I admire him for it.  To know how ugly the environment is on that side of the fence, yet he chooses to wear a smile on his face.  Today, I spoke to his dad after their visit.  And he told me that his son is a light in darkness.

He certainly is. 

Even today as he sits on the other side of the fence, he chooses to be happy.  He chooses to have a positive outlook on life.  He chooses to put good people around him.  Like his good friend, the Rabbi, said the other day we "continue to fall into this prison of one self."  So many of us (regardless of what side of the fence we are on) are in prison because we do not choose joy.

Do you forgive when it is hard to forgive?  Do you choose to find the positive outlook regardless of what you are facing?

It's easy to get swallowed up in day-to-day chores and deadlines.  To worry about others opinions and judgements.  Then there are people like J.J. and his friends who have plenty of things they could complain about.  But they do not.  They stand tall.  They choose joy.  They choose to find the positive.  And even though they are the ones on the other side of the fence, they take the time to check in on their loved ones.  Every day.  Ready to live life with us.  Ready to help conqueror our problems.  Ready to remind us to breathe, and forgive, and see the positive.  Ready to be the light. (That is what J.J. does for me, his mother, and his siblings.  And I know what these guys do for their families too!)

All from prison.    

May God give us His eyes and heart that we may comfort those who need it!  
"God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters."  ~ John Henry Jowett

THANK YOU J.J. and to each and every one of you who has touched my life!