Almost every time I am outside the clinic, someone will say, “Don’t get discouraged, we are planting seeds.” Every smile, every greeting, every car or passerby that sees us, every card handed out, every prayer that is offered up is a seed.
Our work in HIS vineyard is to plant the seeds. Plant the seeds of hope and love. We don’t have to worry about who will water them or whether they will grow. How many cars just keep going? How many couples turn around when they see us at a distance? How many come out without letting us know why?
God’s got this! If you just have the faith the size of a mustard seed. If we do our small part and just show up. HE’LL do the rest. We might not see the results immediately but rest assured “our efforts will not be in vain.”
God bless you and I hope to see you again in the vineyard. Oh yeah, since the “harvest is abundant and laborers are few,” please bring a friend or family member.
-Tim
Here are the reports from today on the sidewalk:
From 7-9 am:
This shift was a total change from Wednesday & Thursday. What a nice change not to be scouting potential clients for PP and then have them resist. It reminded me what Nikki told me years ago. We pray & reach out. God changes hearts.
Pictured are Fr. Jeremy Mohler from Christ the Good Shepherd Parish with Diane, the shift buddy.
Here is 9-11 am:
It was so peaceful on the sidewalk today with it being Columbus Day, the sidewalks were very quiet and it was a good time for prayer. I was blessed to have Peg and Dee from Christ our Divine Shepherd parish (center of pic with Marie and Ginny on the ends.) The sky was a beautiful blue and we prayed for almost the entire shift, the four sets of mysteries of the rosary, a divine mercy and a holy face chaplet. Thank goodness, the clinic was completely empty. No clients or workers, well maybe a couple workers but hardly any. And it was a good shift!
Towards the end of my shift a “pro life” man whom I remember from many years ago who used to come and disrupt our pro life events by shouting and screaming arrived. He is recognizable because he always wears a large cowboy hat and his clothes are always very dirty. His name is Jimmy. He supposedly is a traditional Catholic but he comes to scream at our pro-life women for wearing pants and tells us that we’re going to go to hell because we don’t have our heads covered. Speaking as a traditional Catholic myself, I would not agree that he is representative of traditional Catholics. I think he is simply a bully and he gets some sort of kick out of demeaning and intimidating women when we are there alone. As soon as the group from Saint Agnes showed up, there were a couple of men with them, he got on his bicycle and rode away I just wanted to post this in case he starts coming again, the best response is to simply ignore him and continue to pray. Pray for him also. One of the devil’s favorite tricks is to use a supposedly pro-life person to cause division and embarrassment, making it look like he is representative of pro-life people. The devil loves to make us look bad by sending people like that. If he comes to harass you during your time there at the vigil, be encouraged! Satan must be threatened by your presence there!
From 11-1:
Some more people showed to pray with us. They had attended Mass at St Mary’s and were on their way back to Duquesne University. One was a teacher and the other a student. They were both full of love for the babies.
This group from St. Agnes prayed the four sets of mysteries of the rosary with us. It was a great day!
From Beth 1-3:
Remember the Ultra Lounge? One of the rules displayed in the window:
“#5 Protesting Planned Parenthood makes you human trash. ” They thought such sentiments would make us leave, stop what we were doing, go away.
We’re still here, haven’t stopped what we’re doing and won’t go away until every innocent human being is allowed to live.
Thanks to Mother of God parish for great coverage. Barb, Bonnie, John, Lisa, Helen, and Frank kept everything peaceful and prayerful.
Note of caution: meter maids were out giving parking tickets.
From Dan 3-5:
Few people going in and out of PP, maybe employees. Quiet afternoon praying The Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet with Joe, Helen and Frank. Two young boys stopped and asked what we were protesting. I told them we were praying.