Every day I get up with hopes of making a difference or doing something great. Some days I feel like I've helped someone, changed a life, walked in purpose or at least let the love of Christ shine through me without dark spots. Days like today, I felt like an absolute failure in all of those areas... My day at work was bananas. It really all started last night when I got called out to do an intake after hours. I met the family and after a lot of hesitation, reluctance, and some tears... got them to a safe place. There was soo much drama over something simple. SO this morning, this mom starts calling my phone at 6 am, I didn't hear it but she called my Family Advocate, who was unaware that we even had a new case. LOL Good morning to her!!
I get to work and meet with my boss to give her my observations and then meet with the DCF supervisors and my program to staff the case. As soon as that's done my advocate and I run out the door to meet this family and get them back in safe living conditions. What happens? DRAMA meets us at the door. You know how you meet those people and their presence just drains you... this was our reality for over 2 hours this morning. By the time I left there my head was spinning and my brain felt like scrambled eggs. We had accomplished nothing besides keeping the children with the mother (which would not have been my choice). I was spent, my advocate was spent. We were both drained and dumbfounded.
We grabbed lunch and went to meet with our final family for the day and when I tell you it was like breathing air that had been made from Fiji water... The complete opposite. This mom was proactive, had her stuff together, was taking initiative and making things happen without being told. She was so glad to have us there and had previously told my boss how helpful I'd been, how kind and ho much she appreciated me being there through her process. She greeted us with a smile and offered us cake!! Win for everybody!
I said all of that because sometimes when we're up close doing the work we forget that some seeds that are planted sprout quickly, while others take a lot longer to germinate. We may not always see the immediate results of what we do, or even the reason we have to do it but even the smallest act produces some results. No matter if it's a kind word, listening to someone's story, calming a crying baby, telling them the truth in love, or simply sharing a conversation over lunch. You never know what seeds you've planted or what they'll sprout into.
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