Let light shine out of darkness the forty days of Lent and beyond.

I just feeling like sharing one of my Lenten stories with you – let light shine out of darkness. I was on the train yesterday on my way to work, and as the train was approaching Mass Ave, I heard a faint cry for help, then it got louder. The train was packed and I tried to see where the sound was coming from, but could not. The I heard, “ I am hungry help me”, and I saw a woman making her way through the crowd asking everyone to help her, but no one did. She came and stood directly in front of me and said, “Help me, I am hungry.” This plea tugged at my heart, but I looked away, knowing how scheming people could be. The lady next to me got off the train at the next stop, and the woman sat down next to me, and she said, “See, these people, they are not helping me.” I then turned to her and said, these people don’t owe you anything, why are you hungry? She said, I am homeless and I just came from the shelter and I missed breakfast. I then asked her where she was going, and she said Haymarket, but she have to get back before 4pm in order to get a bed and a meal, but in the meantime she is hungry. I had three dollars and some change in my coin purse and I gave it to all to her. She then introduced herself, she said, I am Phyllis and I said I am Jewel. I asked her if she did not have any kids, and she said, “I have a son who wants nothing to do with me because I was just spared from a ten year jail sentence.” This was my moment to let light shine out of darkness, and we had a conversation on the train where I reasoned with her. I told her, we are strong black women and that she is better than this, and that she need to pick herself up, help herself first and then, make her son proud. She asked me if I thought this was possible and I said yes; people have come from places where you have been and start over. She asked me how, and I said, the first step is cleaning up yourself, combing your hair and stop saying poor me. She said, “I think I could do that.” Before I got off the train she said to me; “Are you a minister?” I said no, but I would like to give you a copy of my newsletter and I hope that you will read it. She said, I was good with reading, but not maths, so I will read it. As I was getting off the train, she said to me “Your hair looks nice”, and I said, yours could too, and she smiled. I could only hope that I made a difference in Phyllis’ life, that I was able to let some light shine out of her darkness.