[Note: Today’s meditation was written by Cathy Self, Senior Vice-President for the Baptist Healing Trust.]
Each day we choose to traverse a physically, emotionally, and spiritually demanding territory called care giving. When I think back on the years I spent at the bedside, I see reflections of what was, memories
that are heart-warming, others that are still heart-breaking. Reflections of my past carry both the demands that have been made of me as well as the gifts I received as a caregiver. Some days were admittedly lived in that semi-comatose state that Erie Chapman has referred to in a post earlier this week. In that meditation, Erie asked what it takes to challenge the routine of the everyday, to become fully present to our life events. Stopping to look at a piece of art (living or otherwise) is certainly one way to challenge our awareness and the habits of our patterns. I find that any kind of reflection opens a doorway into a potentially different way of being.
Reflection can be a powerful opportunity for our hearts to become re-engaged in what we are doing. Of late, I have noticed a number of questions emerging from times of reflection – wondering why and how and what. When I slow down long enough to look into the eyes of my 18-month old granddaughter, I wonder what she is feeling, what does she need most at this moment? I gaze at the sky at eventide and not just clouds but glorious brushes of color and wonder how such beauty can be? I look at the frail hands of my aging mother as she lies in her hospital bed and think of the eighty plus years of her life and ask myself what hopes she might still hold in her heart? And I listen to the night nurse asking if she might pray for me and my family and I find myself wondering what this nurse’s most pressing need is tonight? Who prays for you, dear one, when you are tired or broken-hearted?
Belleruth Naprstek is a pioneer and reliable resource for the use of guided imagery in healing work. She finds herself being drawn to healing for the caregiver and is doing research about what it means to be care giver. She asks questions that I think might provide a doorway into helpful reflection:
- What is hardest for you about caregiving?
- What feelings do you experience during your work?
- Have these feelings changed your sense of yourself?
- What do you like least about yourself in your work circumstance?
- What do you like most about yourself in your work circumstance?
- What have you found to be most helpful in your work as a caregiver?
- What have you found makes things worse?
- Is there a daydream or thought that you find nourishing or sustaining to turn to as you cope with your work as a caregiver?
What reflections do you see as you pause to look into your life as a caregiver?
Journal of Sacred Work 
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