"who is mother, father, sister, brother" jesus asked...
he who does the will of my father...they are who i call my family...

trying to translate this devotion into words my dear kolkata sisters can hear, take in, understand. takes more than just a mastery of the bengali language...simplified...
i realized, through choked up words and unashamed tears...that they have become my mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers...family.

in a place unknown and foreign. mother tongue unused, explanations understood. leaving my own mom and dad, beloved little brother. i explained that i had begun to understand what jesus was saying. that he wants us to love everyone like our own blood family. and for me that meant coming to love them...to many of these women, whose own mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers have left them, turning away in shame, received back only for the money they can offer, or in greed filled moments sold them to a red lit way of life...these words ring with a different tone...you are my mother, sister, daughter...and i, am yours.
what a 15 minute morning devo can do to change ones heart...

only appropriate that yesterday morning i also read some of the greatest news of my life...that my parents will be joining me for christmas in kolkata this year...full of sari bari teas and dinners in my flat...parties that will lodge in my heart and mind for the rest of my days...i never thought that i'd get to share this part of my life with mom and dad. never dreamed they'd set foot in the brothel alleys i spend most of my days, or shake hands with some of the people i've grown to love most in this world...its still unbelievable...and so exicting....
watch out kolkata mom and dad waterman are on their way...
goodnight.