Community Wellness: Have a l​ittle Faith

The cold winter has arrived. As I write this I am sitting in front of a warm fire, drinking a mug of hot cinnamon-flavored herbal tea while listening to a CD of the soulful music of Sixto Rodriguez, a Detroit musician of the late 1960s and the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary, "Searching for Sugar Man." A story of redemption so laden with racism it makes me cry every time I watch it. So this all combines for a perfect concoction to help me deal with my annual post-holiday emotional let-down.

I had a pretty good holiday visiting my son and his family in San Antonio last week. But we eventually had to say good-bye to the tiny-tot grandkids, get just one more hug from them, and kiss their sweet little faces before boarding the plane to come home to the reality of day-to-day life and all the problems that need to be addressed in the New Year, many of which have not yet even arrived. It is the circle of life, as they say, and I keep reminding myself to be grateful. Which at this time of the year is sometimes hard to bring myself to do.

I am often reminded of the poster of a small child in a sailboat, being tossed about by huge waves, hanging on for dear life while praying, "Dear Lord, please be good to me, the ocean is so big and my boat is so small." It can all seem so overwhelming at this time of the year, but fortunately a few weeks ago I met Faith. Faith Fowler. The Reverend Faith Fowler. She is an Albion College, Boston University and University of Michigan graduate who, for the past 20 years, has been the director of Cass Community Services, located in Detroit's inner city.

I first met Faith by discovering and reading her recently published book, "This Far by Faith: Twenty Years at Cass Community." She is AMAZING. Many of the stories in her book, about working with Detroit's most vulnerable people, made me laugh so hard that water came out of my nose.

I found myself crying a lot, too, and staying up all night reading this masterful storyteller. You know, we throw too many people away in our society. But as Faith shares in story after story, every single person has value, people who are addicts, veterans who are homeless, victims of domestic violence, and especially the guy she found who had a toe tag put on him by the coroner, but who wasn't dead. I just have to tease you with a reference to the story about the traveling homeless choir she started, who were mistaken by somebody as the University of Michigan basketball team. It is the stuff of legends.

I was so moved by the work of Faith and Cass Community that I invited her to speak to our entire staff at the recent Right Door for Hope, Recovery and Wellness staff retreat. Her presence, humor and call to treat every person with basic human decency was so powerful that many of our staff exclaimed it was the "best retreat ever!"

Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press wrote of Faith Fowler, "The world waits for people like Faith Fowler. When we most need them, they come along. She has a commitment to a simple yet profound idea: that other people are worth the trouble. Everyone – religious or not – should read these pages. They are literary proof that faith – and Faith – are precious."

In the cold months ahead, warm yourself up and read "This Far by Faith." If you cannot find a copy, you can borrow mine; just send me an e-mail and I will get it to you. As for me, this year I am going to be sure to have a little Faith whenever I feel a little down and out, you know, missing the grand-kids and all.

Robert Lathers, LMSW, is the CEO of The Right Door for Hope, Recovery and Wellness, formerly Ionia County Community Mental Health. His email address is rlathers@rightdoor.org. He welcomes your comments and questions. If you have a mental health emergency, call 911 or our 24-hour crisis line at 1-888- 527-1790. Visit The Right Door online at www.rightdoor.org and find us on Facebook. The Right Door in Ionia is now open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Click here for the original story from the Ionia Sentinal-Standard.