I was blessed to catch this on a podcast recently, it feels so right.
- Victoria Safford
Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of hope.
Not the prudent gates of optimism which are somewhat narrower,
nor the stalwart, boring gates of common sense,
nor the strident gates of self-righteousness which creak on shrill and angry hinges,
nor the cheerful, flimsy garden gate of 'everything is gonna be alright'.
But a very different, sometimes very lonely place.
The place of truth telling,
about your own soul first of all and its condition.
The place of resistance and defiance.
The piece of ground from which you see the world,
both as it is,
and as it could be.
As it might be,
as it will be.
The place from which you glimpse not only struggle but joy in the struggle.
And we stand there,
all of us,
beckoning and calling,
telling people what we are seeing,
asking people what they see.
It's been somewhat difficult to 'see the joy' as of late, but it's certainly there in the relationships I've built with the people I've come to love here. I am blessed beyond measure by the love, support and endless kindness of those near and far - thank you times a million!
