Empty buckets

Jerry, a former president of the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch board of directors, used to talk about how the Ranch’s work was similar to one of his grandchildren’s favorite books, “How Full is Your Bucket?”. Jerry saw the children who come to the Ranch as having “empty buckets.”

“With God’s help,” he said, “we fill their buckets with hope and skills and healing and love.”

He saw, and emphasized, how every moment matters.

But, that’s only part of the story.

This is hard work. It is hard to hear the children’s stories and not take them home. It is hard for staff to navigate the resistance from the children they are trying to help. It is hard to see the pain left by trauma. Sometimes it is hard for people who work at the Ranch to keep their own buckets full.

And then, a child like Chelsea comes along.

Chelsea was only 11 years old when she came to be with us. Her story, like so many others, was filled with horrors and the ignorant, damaging actions of her caregivers.

Despite all that, Chelsea wanted to trust. Her heart was wide open to kindness and caring and learning. She worked hard to heal and forgive. She saw the best in others, even though that was not what she had experienced.

Chelsea made great progress. As she got ready to leave our care, she enlisted one of her teachers to help her make word bubble art for each of the people at the Ranch who had touched her life. Together, they carefully chose visual depictions of how Chelsea saw each person. Then, on those images, she placed the words she associated with them as they had helped her in her journey.

For one, Chelsea chose a dove in flight, its feathers fluttering as it soared. She placed the Rancher’s name in the middle of the body and then surrounded it with words she associated with that person–Acclimation, Amazing, Abundance, Admirable, Accommodation, Affirmation, and more.

Oh, the buckets Chelsea filled when she shared her gifts! The deposits Ranch staff made in her bucket were multiplied tenfold as she filled their buckets to overflowing!

Yes, this is hard, and beautiful, work.

Please keep the children and staff of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch in your prayers.