Greens

The first time (and the second and third) that I came to Mission of Hope everything was brown. It happened to be January the first three times I set foot on the mission and January, being winter, has distinct dry and dusty characteristics in this part of Haiti.
Brown, dry and dusty equals desolate in my mind. January 2011 I had a friend (Michel) visit from Port-Au-Prince and he seemed thoroughly unimpressed by the area's desert qualities. 'There are no trees for shade and cool. You're kind of on the edge of the desert ' he pointed out. It was exhausting to think about as I mulled over the idea of not having relief in a dry and desolate land. In my Ontario mind it was strange to be hot and see only browns and grays... no greens.
But we have a sweet and merciful God who created weather changes to take care of us - to take care of me - and my mind is so very limited and my thoughts so narrow that days like today are comical, really.
It is Good Friday. We are mid-rainy season. The flowers on the mission are blooming. The nights are cooled with rain. The trees are growing daily. Fruit ripening. Life is springing up and the greens and pinks and purples are so very green and pink and purple that you can SMELL the life in them.

Papayas gettin' ripe.

Outside our gate, steps from the playground, the gardener - Mr. Joseph - rakes up the fallen bougainnvillea flowers.

Our front yard area

This bloom hit me in the head on the way to breakfast this morning.

And life is here.
And so is shade and cool.
And relief.
And things are washed afresh each morning.
And we know that He is Risen!