What it Takes

 

What it Takes

What it takes to be the father (or mother) of a homeless community.

It takes a willingness to wake up at all hours of the night and answer the call because someone is hungry and needs to eat now. It takes the devotion to answer the door because someone has literally shit their pants and needs to get cleaned up and changed now. It takes the fortitude to treat the sick who are afflicted with a nauseating abscess. It takes Love.

It takes the patience to accept being lied to in a calculating manner by someone who is selfish and manipulative as hell, and still loving them. It takes far more patience than you will be afforded. It takes far more patience than you thought you had. You have it, just be patient and you'll see. It takes the courage to tell the truth especially when you’d rather not. It takes the humility to say, “I don’t know the answer.” It takes the dogged determination to find out. It takes the judgment to tell the difference between an important task and a fool’s errand. It takes Love.

It takes the ability to put whatever you're doing aside because someone has hit rock bottom, even if you know they haven’t seen anything that solid. It takes the certitude that God does not create garbage even if they are dressed and smell the part. It takes the ability to ascertain someones physical, mental, spiritual, and chemical disposition at a glance. It takes the ability to care more about someone than they care about themselves. It takes Love.

It takes a lot of time.  It takes a lot longer than you planned. It takes a lot longer than that. Way longer still. This is not an hourly employees position. It's a vocation and it pays in the end. You'll see, just be patient. It takes responding at a moments notice. It takes the ability to make definite plans with someone who will not show up even though you will. It takes a firm hand with a gentle touch. It takes respect for the disrespectful, trust in the untrustworthy, and hope for the hopeless. It takes the serenity to watch the same mistakes being made over and over again and trying to get them to see those mistakes over and over again. Maybe they will. Probably not, but we don't give up because they are not hopeless if were the one hoping for them. It takes care without ulterior motives or an agenda. It takes the ability to connect with someone others wouldn’t dare approach. It takes an open heart and an open wallet because in the final accounting you’re on your own. It takes Love.

It takes a deep respect for humanity and an even deeper respect for the human being. It takes listening to a lot of very smart, very respectable, and very well off people telling you that you’re wasting your time, and then ignoring them because you still know they’re wrong. It takes the rare quality to see quality where others only count quantity. It takes a definitive knowledge of where your job ends and God’s job begins, and always respecting that line. It takes Love.

It takes a significant number of cigarettes numbering in the tens of thousands. It takes great risk to your emotional well being. It takes the perseverance to bury a child and then move on because the others need your care. It takes lots of Love.

It takes a certain (particular) and certain (assured) form of mental illness we call PARENTHOOD. It takes Love. That is what it takes to be the father (or mother) , of a homeless community, which is exactly the same skill set it takes to be a parent. The difference is one you choose and the other… chooses you, and the success ratio is a hell of a lot thinner.

The unqualified need not apply.

The one and only benefit you can count on is when you arrive at the gates of Heaven you need only say, "It's me" and they will open. They will open.