Journal of Sacred Work

Caregivers have superpowers! Radical Loving Care illuminates the divine truth that caregiving is not just a job. It is Sacred Work.

About

Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

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The Face of Love

July 22, 2007

Love costs all we are and will ever be

But it is only love that will set us free
-Maya Angelou (photo, left)

There is a question taped to the edge of my computer screen at work. The question is: How does Love find expression in this world? Each of the seven commentators who posted in last Friday’s Forum have expressed a part of the face of Love in the way they look at the world.
It is remarkable to me that if this site were presented as a credible way to find gold, millions would come to it. Instead, the search for Love remains a rare and solitary pursuit. One that is undervalued by so many of the world’s six billion souls….

Thus, on average, fewer than a hundred people visit this site each day to engage in the most important search there is: The quest for true Love.
But perhaps we are not offering enough here. Perhaps this effort is not casting enough light across the pathway between us and the pot of Love at the end of the rainbow.
During our earthly journey, we will have many glimpses of the face of Love. She is, in fact, always present. The question is never whether Love is near, but whether we know how to listen for her voice.
As you travel this day and this week, watch for the face of Love. Simply by posing the question of Love to yourself, you will immediately find a glimpse of her as she smiles in the morning sunlight, takes the hand of a suffering patient, administers the balm of relief to someone in pain, shines out at you from a painting, a poem, a photograph, a dance, or in a song.
Love offers her presence to anyone seeking to know that their existence in this world matters.
The face of Love is the face of Beauty. The face of Love is the hand of kindness. The face of Love is present whenever we quiet our hearts enough so that they fall open to her gorgeous light.
As Angelou tells us through her poetry, her resonant voice, her life, and through her own beautiful face, we are only released through Love. We are prisoners of this life except to the degree we live Love and, through this, are freed to touch the hem of God.

-Erie Chapman

Posted in Meditations

10 responses to “The Face of Love”

Mary Jean Powell, MSW

July 23, 2007

This is a beautiful meditation. Thank you for offering love through this Journal.

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Tammy Roth

July 23, 2007

It’s a nice reminder that the amazing power of love can( and usually does) come in such subtle, quiet ways. And, it’s a reminder to myself to slow down and give love in the same quiet way.

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Karen York

July 23, 2007

Your meditation today is stunning in its simplicity. The message of love is so easily overlooked. Many spend their lives in the grand quest for fame, fortune, public recognition… when life’s greatest accomplishment is living love in our daily journey. Even for those of us dedicated to this work, it is sometimes forgotten in the midst of schedules and reports and the rigors of the mundane. Thank you for offering your gifts of love in this journal.

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liz Wessel

July 23, 2007

Daylight slowly edges the horizon
Ready to acquiesce to night
I am drawn outside to glimpse her luminescence
He’s a majestic old tree standing regal
Strong arms outstretched towards her light
Invites, come sit beside and linger
Within the timeless beauty of earth’s turning
Swaying fans a whispering breeze that causes my eyes to search
Into a splendid green canopy above
A wondrous shelter from summer’s heat
Birds sing out hidden in leafy camouflage
Oh, how I love this tree
I want to be like this tree
Expansive and welcoming
And offer a comfortable space
To set down one’s burdens and rest awhile
Released from pretenses of fears irrational thought
And awaken our hearts to Love’s face

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Bobbye Terry

July 23, 2007

Beautiful poem, Liz. Here’s one from me. Erie, I know you’re not fond of rhyming poetry, but I’m afraid that’s how it comes out of me. 🙂
LOVE DEFINES
Love is as strong as death,
In floods I will not drown
I come into your heart
And curl up all around.
I am from the Lord,
For love is from his light,
Passion’s only fire,
It flashes and ignites.
I just slowly burn,
Into your every pore,
Shining in your soul,
I grow just that much more.
I will kill what’s dark,
And shine the path for you,
Spill me all around,
Let others see the truth.
I will show the way,
To what the Lord does plan,
For all of us to love,
Be brothers and join hands.
Loves defeats the night,
And takes away all harm,
So please, let’s start right now,
And make the whole world warm.

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Tom Knowles-Bagwell

July 23, 2007

What a great question to read every day, Erie, “How does love find expression in this world?” And I also believe you are right that the answer to that question is worth more than gold. Thanks for being here asking it.

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Carolyn Olney

July 23, 2007

What beautiful poetry that has been shared, a gift of love for sure to open up one’s inner most feelings for the world to see. A courageous act of love.
I wonder what we can do to open up the possibility of love for others? “Love casts out fear.”

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Diana Gallaher

July 23, 2007

I experienced love today in a neurosurgeon who did not convey false hope regarding medical intervention improving a friend’s condition.

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liz Wessel

July 24, 2007

I am sure that yours was the radiant face of Love Diana, as you offered your presence and support to your friend at such a difficult time.
It seems to me, false hope is what patients/families may grasp on to as a magic salve that will restore life as it once was. Unfortunately, it can sometimes lead down a path of prolonged suffering. Challenging questions arise, such as, what if I am the one in 100, one in a 1000, one in a million that can overcome this illness? When a person can no longer make healthcare decisions family members seem compelled to do everything humanly possible for their beloved, all the while living with the aching question of would he/she really have wanted this? Most often a person’s concept of what they will have to endure in treatment is unimaginable compared to what they actually experience, the suffering magnified ten fold.
We find it so difficult to accept our inevitable parting from our earthly lives. I have heard it said it is not change we fear but loss. I think that is so true. My prayer is that we begin to live our lives in the awareness of death each day. So that we embrace life loving fully (not fearfully) and come to view death as a natural part of living. Perhaps then the letting go will be a little easier. This is my prayer.

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Diana Gallaher

July 24, 2007

Thank you Liz.

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