Hard Ground and Sleepless Nights

                                  

A few years ago, while I was serving in a young men-scouting responsibility, I realized that there were some things about that calling- which was nevertheless a lot of fun- that I did not particularly enjoy. Actually, the pondering on that topic occurred in the wee morning hours as I struggled to find some sort of a comfortable position in which to eke out a few more hours of sleep on what must have been the hardest, rockiest spot in the whole of southeast Oklahoma. My midnight musings took the form eventually of a poem, in which I answered for myself the query as to why I continued to sleep (OK, that's a euphemism I know...) on the ground.

                                 

Why have I these many years
Packed up my bag with a thin measly pad,
Stepped out in the wild with a kiss
And a prayer, but never a tear,

To sleep in a tent on the ground?
The air has been cold, downright
Frigid at times, and joined in the fray
By some wind, fierce to blow

Every soul that it could
To the westernmost pole.
At other times the air is all
Still, and a bit humid too,

Curling hair and commanding
My body to sweat, not to sleep
When night came. And the angles
Were bad for my shoulders or hips-

Enforcing my age as I turned
Side to side, hoping somewhere
My mind could slip into dreamland
But alack on the ground, pad or no

There was not a comfortable
Spot to be found. So I listen,
And wait till the morning is here
Then I rise to again greet

My reason to come, to assemble
My thoughts, pack my love and some wisdom
For the young scouts that I love,
Team 6685, each God's own son.

                           

I realize now that there is a version of this sentiment in what I do now. And it is again the same love for the young men and women we work with that makes any discomfort, sacrifice or loss of sleep, comfort or favorite activity worth it. We early on adopted the mantra that "love drives this mission" or in other words that it is the motivation for all that we do- obedience to the rules, learning the language, serving our companions, other members, teaching all who will listen, sleeping on hard beds, riding long hours into the grey roads, listening for any sense of meaning we could gather from an accent that was beyond our ken.

      

It isn't an empty mantra, but has become a vital and living theme. I went to English classes this week, and while there sat with Jason for most of an hour listening to him detail what was happening in the world of movies- something he loves, and why? because we love Jason and see him more and more as one of God's choice sons, although it is unlikely that his high-functional autism will ever bring the gospel into comprehensible focus in his mind in this life. But he knows we love him, and so he comes, and shares with us, even as we work to keep him from distracting in the classes.

       

Love will continue to drive us. It's what brought us here, and it is what we have found here. And that is a treasure far beyond what even we imagined.