the Park

I worked most of the day on my design project at the restaurant. Someone came to help, which means that I did not get as much of my own project done, because I was getting him set up to do his project. And then in the afternoon my friend, the owner, wanted to teach her staff to make Christmas cookies. For some reason, she thought I could help. The nationals (who had never made cookies before) totally showed me up and I retreated behind my camera, but it also used up a chunk of my time. But on the up side, I got to eat a yummy sugar cookie with green frosting. :-)

I walk through a long park to get from my apartment to the restaurant twice a day. I have come to notice that the park has a cheerful side, and a sad side. I finally figured out that, because of the way the sun moves through the sky, one side of the park is shady almost all day, and that's where the homeless people hang out, in the shelter of the trees. That's the sad side. People only use the other side in the evenings, and it's usually families picnicking and having a good time. Cheerful.

There is one guy on the sad side. He's in the park every day, all day, and he sleeps there, too. He is usually on the same bench day and night, except for one portion of the day, when the bench is in the sun. He just sits and stares off into space, at nothing, blinking rapidly. He seems to be cared for, in a strange way, because he changes clothes regularly and doesn't seem too dirty. Also, this month is the coolest part of the year, and he has a nice warm comforter to wrap himself in as he sleeps on his bench.

I wonder about him. What is wrong? How did he get that way? Who does he belong to? What is my part in his life? 

I simply don't know. Father, bring him health and wholeness.