The Difference Between Night and Day

The other night, I was attending a Christmas party at a local homeless shelter where the board and staff members of the shelter along with the residents get together for a meal, words of encouragement, and some gift exchange. A number of the women who are staying at the shelter helped prepare some of the dishes and were responsible for the cleanup afterwards.

I stayed a little bit after the party was over and went into the kitchen where one of the residents was washing dishes. She was from New York and had been at the shelter for a little over a month. I wished her a Merry Christmas and then she began to tell me a little bit about her Christmas last year, and what a difference this year was, being in a safe warm place where people cared about her. As she talked further about her experience, tears came to her eyes, her lips began to quiver, and she said, "Because of Martha's Home, I have hope".

Hope, the difference between night and day.