Gratitude By Tim Parkinson << previous page
	I recently read the book Juliet had written about Caring For Life. For me, it was fascinating, as I read I recalled many of the incidents and stories that happened at Caring For Life, some of which involved me personally. Many of those for whom we care at Caring For Life are people that I would now regard as my closest and dearest friends. These are people who have suffered traumatic experiences in the past, they have had to struggle beyond my comprehension to be where they are now. What a privilege to be able to call some of these, my friends, brothers, sisters and colleagues. What a privilege! As I recalled some of those stories, particularly of the earlier years, something struck me that made me appreciate even more some of the people for whom we Caring For Life are called to love and care. I am very lucky. I have a family, a car, a home, with all the luxuries that one would expect. I have friendships, clothes, each year I go on holiday, have food and do not overly worry about whether my next meal will be something I can afford or not. Some people we have come to care for at Caring For Life could quite literally pack every belonging into a supermarket plastic bag, and have done just that, more than once! These are people who have had no friends they could truly rely on or trust, they have no idea when the next meal will come or where it will come from, they have never driven, or known the experience of having a holiday. One instance I know was of a young man and his wife who we took on a day trip to Whitby, only an hour or so from Leeds. It was remarked from the lady that she had never been outside of the Leeds boundary, and had only ever heard of the sea, and had never actually seen it. She was at the time 29 years of age. Their excitement at seeing the sea was incredible, and provided the main topic of conversation for many, many months. How easily we can forget our privileged backgrounds. Oh how we need to be sensitive when talking to people. We must not expect people we are caring for to understand what it has been like to be brought up in a loving environment, with all the opportunities and luxuries that are so often taken for granted. Caring For Life is wonderful. I’m not bragging, nor boasting. It is just a plain simple fact. Caring For Life is wonderful. But the real reason for it being so is simple this – Christ Jesus is here. He is at the very heart of Caring For Life. It is His love that inspires and that is experienced every day at Caring For Life. His love that changes and transforms, His love that makes all the difference. It is very simply the Love of Jesus that is experienced at Caring For Life. We must never taken anything for granted here, and we must always acknowledge that it is He who transforms the lives of those in our care, not us! It is He who was crucified and rose again, He who deserves all the glory for what we see accomplished in these fragile lives.