TRUE WORTH
Many of the old tales involve men tasked with the hard labors of sorting mountains of seeds, or of chopping wood and tending the fires for long stretches of time. In some stories the wood chips are swept behind the door. At the end of "seven year's" (which might be 2, or 20, or 40 rides around the sun in more conventional time), the initiate is told to collect the "worthless" chips in a bag as his wages. He may not realize immediately that his efforts have turned those wood chips into bags of precious gold coins.
Soul work is slow work involving reflection, an ability to grieve, and the ability to meet the daylight psychological and practical challenges, but to also braille life's sub-terrain and respond to its contours with deep sorrow and unabashed joy. Shining through the cracks of our failures and defeats is the real ore of inestimable worth.
We have received donations of all sizes--online donations, mailed checks, and clutches of wadded bills stuffed into our palms with nods and handshakes. Thank you to each of you who have already given so generously. Your generosity is humbling and appreciated.
If you have not donated and have even a latte's worth to spare today, a few shekels hidden beneath the floorboards or ensconced in the wall behind the wood stove, and waiting for a good and just cause, please consider spending of few of your hard-earned coins on the work of the Minnesota Men's Conference. Your gold coins will become nails, and hammers, timbers and siding and labor. With your support, a few buildings will rise out of the plains and become a new home for stories, song, myth. Many more men may realize their true worth and, in turn, bend their labors to serving this troubled world.
Thank you for your support. Donations can be made here:
https://minnesotamensconference.com/support1