A song for Helena

On Sunday afternoon, our L'Arche community leader started to sing a little song to Helena, and it has stayed with me ever since. I made a simple video version so you can hear it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqR3ddqLeBQ

Beautiful, beautiful, Jesus is beautiful

and Jesus makes beautiful things of my life.

Carefully touching me, causing my eyes to see

that Jesus makes beautiful things of my life.

It really is a perfect song for Helena's situation -- God has taken very good care of her. We don't know much about her life before she came to L'Arche 40 years ago, but we can guess that she didn't have the happiest childhood. A friend of mine took Helena to visit her brother 18 years ago, and it seemed he didn't know how to interact with her even then. Going back 84 years, it's too easy to imagine farmer parents not knowing what to do with a child who doesn't develop in the same way as their other children -- and how people who didn't understand would tease and make fun of her. She has a temper, and a stubborn streak a mile long, but in L'Arche she is spoken to fondly even now, and is definitely loved.

As are we all, by the Beautiful One who fashions wondrous things out of imperfections, if only we let it be so.