when your job is to try to help children who have been neglected, abused, thrown away, and unloved, people call you a hero. they shouldn't. and by "they shouldn't," i mean, maybe they should.
people are always asking me how i do it. they tell me they sure couldn't do it, how do i do it?
people are naturally intrigued and attracted to people in my line of work. people admire us, they look up to us, they feel small in comparison to us.
speaking of feeling small in comparison.........here's my trick for how i do it:
i try to remember, with every client or parent whose eyes i am looking into, i try to remember that i am looking at Christ.
i sit there in dirty houses with angry mothers and drunk fathers (that is, if the fathers are even there at all) and i tell myself, "you're looking at Christ, nancy.....you're looking at Christ."
i think of the ten commandments and i think of "i was naked and you clothed me" and i think of people in the Bible with leprosy.
i don't think of any of these things easily or only. these wonderful thoughts are constantly in competition with thinking that i need to get out of this dump. they are in competition with " when can i get lunch - i want a big mac!" and "what time can i finally get home tonight?"
none of what i think or do while i am doing my job makes me a hero. none of it except one thing......
Christ.
