Over the next six months, we plan on featuring a contribution from each of our area-aligned Mission Directors who are helping connect IS caregivers to Mission service opportunities and enriching our IS connection to our Mission under the leadership Chief Mission Integration Officer for Enterprise Shared Services, Sr. Susanne Hartung. Each feature will focus on a Mission Director sharing an inspiring Mission service activity that is underway in their area. We kick off with Tracy Brown, Mission Director for the King County area, which includes our Renton and Seattle-area IS caregivers.
As I was thinking about the article for this month’s newsletter spotlighting the Mother Joseph Farm, I recalled a recent caregiver memorial that included the planting of an apple tree in the farm.
After the caregiver’s team and husband shared fond memories with each other, they planted a beautiful young dwarf apple tree. As we stood in silence, Mark Schweitzer, Epic applications senior analyst and our gardener extraordinaire, shared some beautiful words with all of us. He shared how, just as this caregiver we were remembering was incredibly giving, the fruit tree being planted would give also. It would give to those who are in need in our community for many years.
I then wondered how a simple kind act of giving can have an effect on so many of us and become eternal. I believe the answer has two parts . . .
The first is what the fruit tree teaches us about hope. As we tend to the fruit tree throughout the year, we anticipate what will happen. The sun will shine, buds will bloom, apples will grow, and the tree will provide nourishment and joy. We can see its progress with our own eyes and experience it with our own hands. Hope becomes tangible and a connection to something greater.
The second is the impact of one hand reaching out to another in need. Being of service and giving of one’s self is more than a simple act, it is the creation of a space where one human soul is touched by another, a moment filled with love. Father Medaille, the founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph said “I love Love, and I let Love, love through me.” What an amazing intention, letting Love flow through us.
As the newly planted apple tree in the Mother Joseph Farm will bear fruit and sustain those in need, I hope each and every one of us, when we pause and turn our face to the warm sky this summer, feel the loving touch of that which sustains us and that we grasp the hand of someone in need and share the love that has been so freely given to us.
Many blessings,
Tracy
More about the farm:
The Mother Joseph Farm at our Renton system office is a cooperative vegetable, fruit, and herb garden on our campus grounds. All harvest grown from the farm is donated to the Union Gospel Hope Place which shelters women and children in Seattle.
See photos of IS caregivers in Mission service at the farm.
Visit the Mother Joseph Farm page on Facebook.
Contact Mark Schweitzer, Sr. Analyst, Epic Applications, or Jane Boies, Sr. Analyst Epic Applications, if you’re interested in getting involved.