Collecting Momentoes

It only took about a week in my new job before I became aware that my desk was becoming a bit cluttered.  How can this be happening - I don't even know my way around this place? I found that the things that were collecting were actually other peoples "stuff."

As I began meeting the folks here at Gambrill Gardens it was noteworthy to me that they would pretty much always begin with the work they did in their life.  One gentleman was a hospital administrator...and I would say sometime before that was the specialized position that it is now.  We shared our history of hospitals and the changes we had seen in healthcare over the years and marveled at how times have changed.  Pretty soon he told me about the employee manual he wrote for the hospital.  It was the first one this small rural hospital had and this was in the early 80's.  He went to great pains to color code the sections to be meaningful to the topic at hand...green for payroll policies, pink for termination and grievance procedures, blue for vacation policies...etc.  I smiled to imagine the work and detail that had gone into this document that was the first of its kind.  Within an hour, he brought me one - and thought I might enjoy taking a look at it. A 30 year old booklet that he had held onto for these years.   Item 1

Next I met a retired educator.  She was new to Gambrill and had moved from Oklahoma.  She has her PhD in education and was a leader in that state's education department.  As we visited I learned that she was on the forefront of "Character Education" that is all the rage here and elsewhere.  She had authored curriculum that taught children about respect, honor, trustworthyness, etc, etc.  She showed me her workbooks and we talked about the ethics of deciding what and how to teach multiple ethnic diversities some very Eurocentric values.  She gave me her workbooks.  Item 2

There are many good church folks at Gambrill and among them a delightful couple who have dedicated themselves to serving God and the church in all that they do.  They have gone on many mission trip and led a very exciting life.  She passed on a whole file about several mission sites they had been to and have kept in touch with.  Item 3

Now I have the task of how to honor these gifts.  Do I leave them on my desk as works in progress?  Do I file them away for safe keeping?

These are the legacies of people who are at a point in their life where they are in need of some affirmation, some record keeping that their lives have made a difference somewhere in the world.  I am the grateful recipient of these thoughts and words and faith.  I am no different, I too want to know that my life and time spent with people past and present has made a difference.  I just haven't created the legacy gifts I can give to someone to keep for me to be my witness to the age that I was here and that it mattered.