For some or other reason, I could not continue typing the last message or editing it...so I posted it as it was...imperfect, yet still my thoughts.  Somehow fitting.
I think about the impact parental touch has on a child...I don't know if anyone has ever studied the impact of children touching their aging parents, but I suspect the result is the same.  A sense of belonging...or being wanted...of being loved...of still having value and meaning.  Surely this applies to thos whom I had the privelege to touch this past week? The tears of the lady who did not receive family visitation on a holiday when sweets are given and love is sharing between family members touched me deeply...how would I feel if my children forgot all about me?  I think of how I feel when I haven't heard their voices for a while...here are people who never hear from their children.  Think on it dearest brethren...
I can only hope that the little bit of money I left behind for the social worker/counselor to buy treats for them and let them know that their brother in Jesus came to visit and to bring them sweets will serve to take a little bit of that bitterness away...even if only for a moment.
It really doesnt cost much to bekind, does it? Just a moment of our time...a brief smile...a gesture of acceptance, of love, of true care...
Jesus said that if we give even a small cup of water to one of these, we are giving it to Him...a cup of water...not much to give, but gratefully receive in the context or a world that takes and takes and takes until there is no more to take...and those now emptied become