The Young Adult Volunteer program’s motto is “A year of service for a lifetime of change.” While this is great, my site coordinator pointed out how it would also be true if it were said vice versa. “A year of change for a lifetime of service.” This last year in Hollywood changed a lot. It changed the lives of seven young people. It changed hearts, bodies, and minds. It changed Hollywood, no matter how slightly. At the beginning of the year, the change was the city itself. I have been home for two weeks now. I am finding ways to serve in my community and further. Currently the 2015-2016 YAVs are at orientation awaiting the year of service and change to start. Many prayers are ascending for them, the YAV Alumni sharing stories and wisdom, and the staff of YAV Office and Stony Point. So with that small intro, I would like to share with you one of the last things I wrote while being a Young Adult Volunteer in Hollywood.
The YAVs had arrived at Susie’s beautiful home for our last retreat day. Matthew arrived, we had a wonderful breakfast prepared by Susie, then curled up on the couch and started talking about the inevitable act of leaving in a matter of days. We started with a prayer, as we so often did. Matthew used The Message version of The Lord’s Prayer. It goes like this:
Father Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
Our entire day together was focused on these words…
Set the World Right —–
Justice ~> Mercy
I am still trying to figure out how these two things fit together. How they coincide. Before this year, I was called naïve a lot. And maybe I will be after this year too. I hated it and then I kind of accepted it and morphed it into, “What’s wrong with being naïve in life if it just means trying to find love in the world.” While I know it is still of the utmost importance for me to find the love in this world and to be that love when I cannot obviously see it, what I do know now is this. The acceptance of being “naïve” doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t make me gain knowledge about my world. It keeps me sheltered and in the dark about the hardships, the wrongs, and the sadness here. It keeps evil in the dark, and that’s where it wants to be. That’s where evil can grow in its mold and dankness… That analogy can really just keep going because mold (evil) sits and seeps its way from the corners of your house (world) into your lungs (soul) and makes your body sicker and sicker. Until the mold just chokes the life out of you. You have to throw open the windows and get some light and oxygen in those dark spaces. Just light and air won’t make that mold go away though. Sure it helps, but there has to be some elbow grease in there to scrub it out. There has to be some remodeling. Sometime it even means moving out of the moldy house and starting over somewhere new.
So while it hurts to know more about the hardships, evil, wrong, and sadness in the world, wouldn’t you rather know and be able to throw some light on it? Rather have your muscles and your soul be tired and sore from work, than letting that mold seep in and just ignore it until it just takes you? I know I would.
Be informed. Love all you can. Accept love that is given to you. Find peace. Get into your community. Tell stories and PLEASE listen to others’ stories. Throw light on the evil in the world and then figure out how you can help alleviate the pain caused by that evil!
Little Pencil 