Journal of Sacred Work

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom…17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits… James 3:13,17

   And what is this wisdom that gives birth to our gentler nature?  In the next chapter of his letter, James quotes the answer,
                 God opposes the proud
                 but gives grace to the humble.
   It is in humility that we find grace and with it the gentleness and compassion we need to be loving caregivers.
   All of us are born with some level of aggression. We are fiilled with endless desires to fill our own needs. That is why we need James, among others, to remind us to let go of our desires. Conflicts and disputes "come from [our] cravings" he warns us. But we cannot simply stop craving, can we?…

   Instead, we need to think of how we may free ourselves from needless internal & external struggles by surrendering to God’s love. We see the grace of this surrender in the cycles of nature. Summer does not seek to force itself into fall. Winter doesn’t pursue victory over spring. In each season, we see the surrender of the earth to whatever may befall her, glorying in fertility, suffering in drought, accepting her fate with grace.
   Yet we are humans. We carry both the divine spark and the ability to yield to our darkest desires. We have been handed not only bodys with appetites, but egos laced with desires. Our ego’s stir us to pride. Our divine spark calls us to love.
   Does this mean that our lives must be suffused with struggle? The answer seems to be that the challenge of desire falls unequally among us. Some are flooded with deep longings that overpower them. Others are blessed with the wisdom to resist the darkest calls of the world and choose light.

   Clerics tell us that faith is a key part of the answer. We can also take heart from the wisdom of Lincoln who called us simply to listen to "the better angels of our nature."   
   The dynamics of desire hold paradox. The more we resist desire, the greater desire’s pull seems to be – as if we are handing power to craving but trying to deny it.
   Where attention goes, energy flows. As we redirect our energy to the voices of our better angels, their voices come to dominate our lives diluting the poison of choices that would harm others. Choosing light becomes easier when we focus our attention on loving others.
   Each of us has the chance to "show by [our] good life that [our] works are done by gentleness born of wisdom." We know this wisdom. As caregivers, it’s the practice of this wisdom that matters to our patients, their loved ones, and our team members. As we live love, fear recedes. This is God’s gift to us – to live in love, not in fear.

-Erie Chapman