"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." - Revelation 22:1-2

The Bahamas is my homeland and by now I think I should know it well. By this, I speak of the then and now and from these two I try my best to map out the hereafter. Of course I know my maternal and paternal grandmothers and my maternal grandfather. I knew all of my aunts and uncles on both sides of the family divide, and as I write they have all crossed over to the other side. Indeed they were a great bunch.
Often in driving I would leave the main streets and get to my destination via side streets and alleys. It is good to be able to toot a horn, hail and many times stop to ask of their well-being. One such occasion was a few days ago when I hailed a group of young men through Milton Street, but on spiritual instinct turned around in the yard of the voice of the watchman, Bishop Lynes, to go back and have a chat with them as to how they were getting on in their corner.
I found out in hearing of their various concerns that there is an abundance of common sense talent among them, not to mention the various skills in masonry, carpentry, and to one particular young man I called out his talent of tile laying. As they all were concerned about no jobs, money and their manhood being in the doldrums, I asked for the chef of the group and gave him a bag of groceries and told him that I would be back with another one the following week.
I also shared with them a story of my childhood when I visited my aunt through Rocky Road, now known as Plantol Street. Many did not even know what it was originally called. I went to deliver letters to my aunt from her daughter in New York. It was getting on twilight, and on returning to Hay Street the crowd had already gathered for the weekly jumping dance street contest. The music was so sweet and I was equally intrigued by how the women and men showed their motion that I had forgotten the way to go home. I paid for it when I finally returned.
Our recent celebrating 50 years of Majority Rule was worthy of all the effort that was put into it. But even though we have gained many things and opportunities that were denied us in times past, we have failed miserably in the value of home life, family and love of country, not to mention our ingratitude to a God who brought us out from social, economic and educational darkness.
I met Dr. Derek Pinder, director of Herbal Healing Center, which is an alternative healing place and he told me that many are finding cure in the leaves of trees. We of old school know all about this because we are still alive and kicking because of the many bush medicines that our parents daily gave to us.
In our scripture text today, John The Revelator is sharing his experiences on the Isle of Patmos. Banished to die, he was taken up in the spirit and directed to write of his experiences.
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations," he wrote.
I know that there is cause for alarm because of the number of deaths among our youth, especially the young men. An analogy I used recently to a group of idle young men in the middle of the day was taking up a handful of dirt. I told them that as women we are the soil, but no matter how fertilized we may be, it needs a seed to be deposited and if the seed is destroyed then there will be no harvest.
There is no doubt that there is a satanic attack on the young men of our country. It was not always this way, for America will tell you that Bahamian labor was in high demand when the war was on. We are not a lazy people, by no stretch of the imagination, but the fan of lack of esteem, little regard for education, social unrest and misplacement, abuse of the environment and a total disregard for law, life and limb has us placed in the critical unit of being replaced in the bleakness of the future.
But there is hope, and it lies in those who are the "leaves" of the nation. Those who should be role models, spiritual advisers, enablers, encouragers, admonishers, and band leaders and drum majors for truth, decency, dignity and decorum.
Yes, there is healing for our nation. Yes Lord, I do believe!

o E-mail rubyanndarling@yahoo.com; Facebook Ruby Ann Darling or write to P.O. Box SS 19725 Nassau, Bahamas with your prayer requests, concerns and comments. God's blessings!

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