The dark clouds make the sky look dark!
Is not the sky always blue! The dark clouds hide the sky!
If the clouds become the optic, a the sky is forgotten!
A colleague proceeded for higher study last week. Two other colleagues are away due to personal reasons. One support staff too is away. Just four of us with the regular work! I had a sense of seeing only the dark clouds.
A gentle man came in yesterday with his nephew, who is seven years old. His brother who was this boy's father, died due to cancer early this year. The boy's mother finding the care of the father too difficult to cope, left the family and is not in touch with her son. This gentle man, who is the younger brother, took over the responsibility of his nephew. Currently the boy is in a boarding school. For about a year, the boy was not receiving regular treatment for his seizure disorder. He had a recent set back with difficulties to adjust in the boarding school.
At the end of listening to this devastating story, I wondered how he is coping. He said, his wife and two of his children are fond of this boy. They would do what is necessary for him. His remark was:'It is an opportunity to give him a better future'!
The cloud was dark and appeared to bring a depressive orientation. But for that gentleman, the dark cloud brought a challenge to which he responded creatively. He reminds me of his ability to be hoping for the clouds to vanish and the sky to appear!
At the end of the day, I realised how the last one year was the most difficult season out of the ten years I spent at work in the current work place. There was a breakdown of trust between people in the department. From that low point, the department showed some sign of recovery with new activities. It was during the last year, we were able to bring out three publications, create digital friendly protocols for developmental appraisal, revive the consultation and developmental support services, upload ten videos to bring cheer during the COVID season to professionals, children, health workers, families, senior citizens, etc, conduct a weekly on line continuing education programme in child development and rehabilitation, and offer on line consultation for families from overseas. The dark clouds lasted only for a short time. We were blessed with the hope the blue sky brought us.
I feel overwhelmed as I think of the year that is behind us.
Today as the department enters the eleventh year, what occupies my inner ambience is cheer and hope that lifted our spirit.
St Paul in I Corinthians chapter 13:13 brought the threefold perspective to life, 'But now abide faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love'.
An uncle stepping into be a foster father to an orphaned child, is an epitome of faith, hope and love!
When I looked down after watching the dark cloud, what I noticed was this blossom in our garden! That became a symbol of faith, hope and love for the eleventh year of the department where I work!
Let me bring this bunch of flowers as a symbol of fullness awaiting us, as we move into the eleventh year!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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