After a fairly long hiatus, I am thankful to be back to writing for (the) Mission Matters. For those of you who do not know me, I was the Founder and Director of Gateway before I transitioned to the Mission Strategist when we became Toronto Housing & Homeless Supports.
This newsletter has been called (the) Mission Matters for two reasons:
Firstly, I feel very strongly that our mission has to be the backbone of everything we do. If we are not united by mission, we are not united at all.
With our focus in February being on the idea of love, and the first thing in our mission statement being that we share the love of Jesus Christ, it is a good time to refocus on the mission. The mission does matter.
Secondly, we are a mission ourselves. This is a newsletter that outlines the matters of our mission. A space to share what is happening across THHS.
Our work is very difficult. But the beauty is we get as much out of it as we put into it.
The relationships that we make, and the love that we share, are reciprocated. People that live in our shelters can teach us so much about life, love, hope and gratitude. These are things that we could never learn in school. Yes, people living on the streets and in shelters are very broken and can say and do hurtful things. But looking just a little deeper, looking through eyes of love, can help us see true beauty in people.
Love matters.
Mission matters.
So let’s keep on trying to have love at the center of all that we do, as we keep striving to be “the hand of God in the heart of the city.”
Dion
Prayer
Lord,
Sometimes I am very tired.
Sometimes I get extremely frustrated with the people I work with.
Help me, even in the midst of sometimes being exhausted, to see people through the eyes of love.
Amen