A little about Daystar...and buckets

“What are the buckets really for in your lobby?”
We hear this question often from kids and families who come to our offices for counseling. If you were to visit Daystar, you might wonder the same thing. Maybe you already have. If you haven’t yet had a chance to visit us in our new yellow house in Berry Hill, and if this brochure hasn’t already given it away, we’ve got buckets. Lots of them. Actually, we’ve got as many buckets as we do full-time staff members. They’re sitting on a ledge in our lobby and each have the name of a staff member written on them. It is a little mysterious…
So, one afternoon, a dad told us his theory. “I thought that maybe the buckets were for each person’s stuff. Not their stuff like business cards or chewing gum, but their real stuff. The junk they carry around inside of them that keeps them from getting to the heart of the issue. Or, even just keeps them from getting to their heart in general. I thought maybe when kids and parents came in for counseling you told them to leave their stuff in the bucket at the front door—that it didn’t have any place inside Daystar.”
What a great idea. (Actually, we have buckets because they’re cute…because cute and homey is a part of what Daystar is about, as well.) But we really like this bucket theory. And, it goes right along with what Daystar is about.
In individual counseling, kids leave their defenses—their attempts to look strong or perfect or funny or whatever they try to be in school in the bucket at the door. They are then freed to be honest and for God to meet them where and who they really are.
In group counseling, kids leave their sarcasm and selfishness in the buckets. Every child in group knows they are there to offer kindness and compassion. And it is an amazing gift to watch girls and boys from 2nd grade through 12th do this week after week.
And for Camp Hopetown, they leave all of this and more in the buckets at the front door. The farther we drive away from Nashville, the freer they are to offer and receive genuine compassion, to live and love as God has called them to, and to experience what it means to truly be themselves in a safe place where they are accepted.
Maybe we will change the buckets to stuff buckets. Or, maybe they can just sit on the ledge as a reminder. Either way, they symbolize that Daystar Counseling Ministries exists as a place that has no place for stuff….at least the stuff that keeps any of us from our hearts.
Since 1985, Daystar has been committed to serving the needs of children, adolescents, and families in the middle Tennessee community. This takes place in individual and group counseling, summer camps, and parenting classes every day in and out of our offices. The buckets help. And God continues to graciously use the staff, volunteers, and supporters of Daystar Counseling Ministries to meet the un-stuffed hearts of kids and parents to offer his hope.

In Honor of Mothers...
"Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired...be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."
Mother Teresa
Happy Mother's Day and thank you for your continued, tireless love!