Devotionals

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Prayer

Sing my beloved!

A new day is here!

There is a song that

only you can give

Words that only you can say

Your song is filled with love

and faith which you long to share

You don’t have to sing it alone

Together we make a beautiful harmony

We can provide hope

which people need

So come my beloved!

There is no time to waste!

There are many songs to sing!



Advocating for Others

It was a hard time for the mental health system. There were rumors of cuts. Not just of employees, but entire programs. Programs that served over four hundred people. The future looked gloomy. I work in a program that is a segment of a broader program. We have many programs in our agency serving mostly adults but some that also serve children. One of our programs which was scheduled to be cut was for adults and served over four hundred people. It provided Psychiatrists, case managers, and groups and some employment. I was shocked to know it might be cut.

Since I have advocated for mental health before I asked our Director is they might need any help speaking at the Board of Supervisors meeting. One of the staff e-mailed me asking if I would take signed petitions to the supervisors. She told me that I could speak at the meeting if I wished. I accepted the offer and dug out information related to our budget for the coming year.

There was much sadness and discouragement in the Mental Health system because of the proposed budget. I decided to try and make my brief talk hopeful instead of defeated. I planned to tell the success of people. In the program. Also what people with severe mental cam achieve with support. I wrote it out before hand because I knew I would be nervous.The weather was not looking good. While I was walking into the building I noticed five or six people from Mental Health protesting the cuts with signs. It was cloudy at that point but not raining. I decided I would like to join them. They were scheduled to have huge cuts and I knew they provided excellent services. They had given me the Advocate of the Year award twice over the last twenty years, so I wanted to help them. I took my sign and tried to make it visible to drivers pacing by. The people picketing were not only concerned for the people in their program but wanted to prevent layoffs that were scheduled for other programs. I realized I was fortunate to still have a job. I listened as they told me the bad news about their program. Many of them who were picketing had already lost their jobs. It wasn’t a good feeling to know the services they provide would no longer be funded. It began to rain and they decided to pack it in. They were discouraged and they didn’t see how their picketing helped anyway.

Having heard what was going on with their program and others I couldn’t go in. I remembered a tape of a Christian person I admire and how he had picketed and he wondered if he was doing any good at all. He said that wasn’t the point. The point was, he was not going to let culture or challenges stop him from speaking out for injustice.

It was pouring rain and I had no coat or umbrella, but there I was. One person who walked by asked what I was picketing and said he admired me. I laughed and said,” well, I’m either dedicated or not smart enough to come in out of the rain.”I had to laugh at myself. I would hold my sign, but it was getting wet and the sign was starting to bend. I took two hands and help it so it could still be seen. I felt it was something I needed to do for the people who receive services and the people that provide the services.

It was getting time for the meeting to start so I packed in my stuff and went into the Board room. One thing I forgot was when you have clothes that get wet you tend to get cold. I was so cold that I was shaking a bit. I figured we might be able to talk first. I thought there would be a group of people from the program that were going to talk. I found out from the only staff that came that I was there only speaker! Holy cow!!There were counting on me to advocate for the whole program!!

The last time I had spoken in front of the board was in the middle nineteen eighties! I had been on many committees and spoken at there but not at the board. I thought on well, I did it before, so I can do it now. No one seemed to know where we were on the agenda. An hour went by, then another, and pretty soon it was lunch time. I thought surely we would be on the agenda after lunch. To make a long story short, I finally got to speak at 4:30 p.m.

I was very tired and my thinking wasn’t as clear as it might have been if it had been earlier in the day. But finally I heard my name. Yea! I got up out of my chair and all the petions (about fifty) came out of the folder. Oops! Not exactly the most graceful way to start a talk!

I am very short so the chairperson explained how I could lower the mike. I am not the most mechanical person in the world, so I couldn’t figure it out. One of the top executives of the county lowered it for me. I started by introducing myself and explained who I was representing and why I was there. After that it is pretty much a blur. I thanked them for letting me speak and went back to my chair. I wanted to leave but there were two or three speakers from other mental health programs that were going to speak. I felt it would be rude to leave before they talked.

Our Director asked how it went and thanked me for going. I told him about the picketing and the petitions falling. We had a good laugh about that. He told me that one of the county staff had asked him who the woman was who spoke and how she was very impressed with her. That was encouraging. As it turned out there were a lot of layoffs in the program, but it is still going. We don’t know what the future holds.



Scripture

Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he cam to Horeb, the mountain of God. There an angel of the Lord appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see the bush, though on fire, was not comsumed.So Moses decided, “ I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and why the bush is not
buring.”

When the Lord saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush,” Moses! Moses!”He answered “ Here I am”.God said,” Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where where you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father,”he continued, “ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God.But the Lord said,” I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have hear their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering.Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. So indeed the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.Come now!I will send you to Pharoh to lead my people, the Israelites out of Egypt”.

But Moses said to God,”Who am I that I should go to Pharoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt”?He answered, “ I will be with you;and this will be your proof that it is I who has sent you;you will worship God on this very mountain.”” But when I go to the Israelites and say to them,” The God of your fathers has sent me to you, if they ask me what is his name?what am I to tell them?” God replied,”I am who am” Then he added,” This is what you shall tell the Israelites; I AM sent me to you.”
Exodus 3:1-14 ( The New American Bible)








Reflection

Sometimes we may see situations which are unjust or causing hardship for people who can ill afford more difficulties. We may read something in our community which informs us of a program that is possibly being cut and they are having a hearing soon. We may feel badly for the people and know it will cause pain. For a few minutes we may say to ourselves, “I wish there was something I could do.”Then we get distracted and if we think of it again we might say,” I hope it came out alright.”Or it may seem like something that doesn’t involve me or my family and I have so many responsibilities, how could I possibly help.

I know we are all busy with families, work etc. We barely have time to do what we have to do how can we possibly help people we don’t even know? If we do feel he passion to help people in our community we may face another hurdle. Who will listen to me? What good will one voice do? I get nervous speaking in front of people.

Moses had the same doubts. He didn’t know why anyone would listen to him. He says to God,” Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?”Does that sound familir? But do you notice what God says,” I am with you.”That is just as true today as it was when they wrote the Bible. When we try and advocate for people who are being persecuted or services that are being cut, God is with us.

We must speak up when there is an injustice and research why services are being cut or why there is an injustice being done. We can’t advocate unless we have facts to back it up. We have to try and make sure the most vulnerable people in our community have the services they need and respect. We are just like Moses. We have to speak out even if we feel we aren’t competent or sure of ourselves. But, just like Moses, God will be with us.

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