Awe

This past weekend was something I will never forget.

Each time I do this, it becomes more miraculous.

I am always in awe of the help I receive.  Somehow, there is always a power far beyond my own.

I am in awe of the love, the power that can fill a room.

I am amazed at the strength to be found in selflessness.  Those who find that strength find true joy in this life.

I always learn many glorious lessons from doing these events.  The Salt Lake event was no exception.

Lessons about myself, lessons about life.

This time I felt I was taught lessons quietly, by everyone around me.

I have found quickly that horrific issues like Congo’s are often litmus tests for people.  Reactions are almost never down the middle.  There are strong reactions one way or the other.

I have been surrounded this week by people who have risen up to do something, in spite of personal difficulty and pain.

All without glory, status, or recognition.  Just quietly, selflessly, doing everything they can to help someone else.

I am in awe.

These are the people who show me that there is hope.  That there is a reason to try.

These are the ones who have helped me to find joy.

Each participant who chose to come had to drive through the snow and the cold.  It would have been so easy to stay home.

My parents, who watched my children so that I could come.

Our organizers, constantly, quietly working in the background, to the point of exhaustion, to make this work.  Not once seeking recognition of any kind.

They have lives, jobs, families.  They don’t have any extra time.  They have the stress we all have.  Yet they stand up anyway.  They donate their time, resources, and their light.

Our photographer, who I truly met through divine assistance.  She had spent much of the week in the hospital with a young child.  She must have been exhausted and overwhelmed.  Yet she came, so cheerfully, and changed us all.

My husband, who quietly runs constantly to make everything perfect.  He is so cheerfully in the background, working endlessly.  Never once asking anyone to take notice.  Oh, how I Love him.

Friends who love us.  Friends who helped and served us.  Friends who drove all day and into the night for us.  I could go on and on forever.

Blessed, blessed am I.

It’s worth it.  It’s so worth it to step outside yourself.

As I lay there, in that room full of people I had so much love for, I could not stop weeping for the joy I felt.

We truly saved lives together this weekend.  Congolese lives.  Our lives.

Thank you, all of you, who once again gave everything and showed me what true love can do.

(I’ll write about the Logan event in a separate post.  Each event is its own story.)

Pictures: Jen Fauset

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