Journal of Sacred Work

(Friday’s Guest Reflection is from Catherine Self)
   It was in 1999 that the dream first took hold in my core –
we could become a place of healing, we could discover a new way of being, I
could live my sense of calling and I could experience meaning in every moment –
and, in those days I dared to believe that the dream could actually become
reality!
   That year I heard words like significance, passion and
persistence. These were among the words that our then new CEO, Erie Chapman,
spoke to the leadership team at Baptist Hospital. The vision being
offered was of a place where bringing the dream to life meant…

° hard work lives next to good humor,

° well intentioned failure always meets
forgiveness,

° success lives on every street, and

          ° magic is possible. 

We heard that among the people in this new place: 

° partnership is the way of living,

° respect is ever present,

° truth is pervasive,

° creativity is celebrated,

° humility is evident, and

          ° compassion is constant. 

   This would be a place and a people not unlike Great Britain in the 1940s, who when inspired by Winston Churchill created a culture strong
enough to resist the overwhelming forces of Nazi Germany. Our new culture would
peopled with individuals like those who brought Walt Disney’s dreams into
reality in the 1950s, a reality that continues to create magic for all to this
day. We would be a people like those at NASA in the 1960s that created a
culture capable of building a space craft which sailed with Neil Armstrong
through space and ultimately allowed his to be the first human foot to step
onto the dusty surface of the moon. We would be successful, like the family of
Southwest Airlines dreamed of being when they first gathered in the 1970s. We
would be innovative and pervasive with our work, even as the leaders of
Starbucks envisioned in the 1980s.
   But this vision had to become clear, energized and
practical. We would have to deeply understand not only the how but the why of
our work. We would each have to become personally committed and genuinely
passionate; we would need to discover our truest potential; we would have to
practice persistence, not to make perfect, but to make permanent our dreams; we
would have to be intentionally positive; we would need to understand the power
of presence and prayer; and most of all we would be called to claim the peace
of knowing that what we do is sacred work.
   Over the next eight weeks I will share with you the gifts,
practices, and powers of meaning, personal commitment, passion, potential,
persistence, positivity, presence and prayer/meditation as we each
individually, and all of us collectively, seek to create places and become
peoples of healing.
   Until then, I invite you to dream boldly, for “whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin
it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” – Goethe