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.

About

Today

November 15, 2007

[Ed. Note:Today’s meditation was written by Cathy Self, Sr.V.P at the Baptist Healing Trust]

The duality of life sometimes catches me by surprise. I
recently sat by an old, glass-paned window watching the air fill with dancing
leaves of many colors while listening to a quiet piano playing in the
background. Suddenly the sounds of a jack hammer exploded in my ears. Beauty and
beast live side by side in the world.
I marveled at the duality experienced just this past week –
the delicate cry of my newly born grandson’s waking, pierced by the blare of a
car’s horn outside the window; resting under the warmth of a soft throw on my
sun-lit couch, the quiet interrupted by the phone’s sharp ring; listening
intently to my mother’s unspoken needs, pulled by the incessant ticking of the
clock’s reminder of errands not yet completed….

The both/and-ness of each moment demands my attention.
Wanting to surrender my entire being to the beauty, the beast tugs and seeks to
pull me away. Some traditions refer to life’s duality as the necessary parts of
the whole. Without a valley there is no mountain peak; without darkness, can we
truly know and understand light? I too often resent the beast, not welcoming
the gifts even the darkness and valley bring.

That morning, however, my ears attuned to the rhythm of the
jack hammer, I began to reflect on the hands directing its power. What is
the story of the man guiding the energy of the jack hammer? Does the noise seem as
intrusive to him as it does to me or have his ears become numb to its jarring
sound? Perhaps. I wonder if he ever feels the irritated stares of passers-by. Could he conceive of his work as meaningful and
satisfying? I hope so. For even in what appears to be the beast, there is
beauty, if only we will choose to see with new eyes and hear with new ears the
dance of this precious life.
Hafiz, a poet of the 1300’s, challenges me to embrace the
wholeness, the dark and the Light of life.

do not

Want to step so
quickly

Over a beautiful line
on God’s palm

As I move through the
earth’s

Marketplace

Today.

I do not want to touch
any object in this world

Without my eyes
testifying to the truth

That everything is

My Beloved.

Something has happened

To my understanding of
existence

That now makes my
heart always full of wonder

And kindness.

I do not

Want to step so
quickly

Over this sacred place
on God’s body

That is right beneath
your

Own foot

As I

Dance with

Precious life

Today.

“Today” – Hafiz (1320-1389)

I wish for you, in your sacred work, a long and meaningful
dance with this precious life.

Posted in Meditations

5 responses to “Today”

Tom Knowles-Bagwell

November 15, 2007

Thanks for helping me to slow down for a moment here at the beginning of the day to take note of “a beautiful line on God’s palm.” You are certainly right about this amazing mixture within which we live every day. I wonder about that guy running the jackhammer, too. Guess I also wonder if I am that guy sometimes.

LikeLike

Reply
liz Wessel

November 15, 2007

Today’s lovely meditation resonates with me. I also enjoyed Hafiz’s sacred poem. Ah, and the blessing of a baby grandson, Does life get any sweeter?
Thoughts that are stirring for me are about conflict and the difficult emotions of anger and hurt that often accompany. This week a colleague received anonymous unkind feedback via a survey. The comment seems to be such a misperception and so uncharacteristic of this Loving caregiver, and she is very hurt by it.
When conflict occurs my first instinct is to recoil, avoid and self-protect. Thich Nhat Hahn suggests that whatever difficult emotions arise, anger, fear, anxiety, to begin to practice mindful breathing and let the emotion dissolve and then you can begin to look deeply to gain insight and understanding. He also suggests thinking of your emotion as a crying baby. To drop everything, just as a mother would to care for her baby. We need to give our attention to these unwanted emotions, to care for and embrace them, in order to transform them. I like this approach, as I am beginning to see that these conflicts are not really separate from me. We all have positive and negative seeds within us, which ones do I water most often? If I do not tend to my garden, then I may project my unwanted emotions onto others. So when another person is angry and lashing out I realize that they are suffering and with a listening heart, perhaps I can be of some help.

LikeLike

Reply
Lorilee Amlie

November 15, 2007

I enjoyed this mornings meditation. Thank you Cathy Self for sharing you thoughts. I have a neighbor whose garderner shows up at 6:00 am Thursday morning! The sound is such an intrusion, but after reading your words I will think differently of the person making the noise and how he is just trying to make a living like the rest of us. As many beasts as I have in my life, I thank GOD for the beauty everyday and how lucky I am.

LikeLike

Reply
Karen York

November 15, 2007

For five days last week, a jackhammer pounded right outside my office window as the Krystal remodeled. Many in the office were on their last nerve. The only thing I could do was to choose to listen to the music in the rhythm rather than the annoyance of the repetition. Thank you for your insight into the complexity of the beauty that exists in all things today.

LikeLike

Reply
Diana Gallaher

November 15, 2007

This is a lovely, meaningful meditation and comments. Thank you all.

LikeLike

Reply