Journal of Sacred Work

 [Below is the piece I wrote for the very first edition of the Journal of Sacred Work. I hope it will encourage you to search other previous essays as I take some days of vacation with family. – Erie]

A Mountain Lake Experience

Caught
in the swirl, it is no wonder that America’s caregivers, beeped at,
paged, blinked at by call lights, may lose touch with the core of their
calling – to care for those in need, to offer healing, to be present to
pain and joy – to be present to real light instead of its electric
imitations.

Competing
demands dilute our ability to heal with love. They interfere with our
capacity to appreciate the beauty around us and to live our love.

Early
caregivers understood the power of presence – the need to be heard and
to be loved. Those who cultivate presence in long interactions are also
more effective at being present in brief encounters. The practice of
meditation is the exercise most likely to further our ability to be
present to others. It is a gift we give ourselves and, in turn, becomes
a gift we give to others.

Presence Meditation: Take
a full minute with this lovely work, a painting by the mid-nineteenth
century artist, William Turner. It is called The Lake of Zug – 1843.
See how adding fifty-three seconds to the first seven affects your
appreciation.

Poetry Meditation: Here
is a brief meditation I wrote after looking at Turner’s Lake of Zug for
a minute that was full and rich and peaceful for me.

Turner’s Lake

Outside me, three tree branches dance above bunches of nervous cars

driven
by blank-faces waiting for red to go green, tires to turn, the radio to
play the next song. Back within, I sit, close my eyes, open

my
heart’s door. It’s time to visit an Alpine lake the way Turner
watercolored one in 1843’s summer. The elbow of the steep blue mountain
blocks the sun’s effort

to
define itself. What light there is hazes the lake below. In the left
distance, two men boat. In the right foreground, children
rock-scramble. In the lower

left,
two inch-high women thigh-deep the lake, wash clothes they aren’t
wearing, air their skin near brown rocks & blue water. Near the
dying man

I will care for today, others edge to the end of their earthly

visit. Today, I will take my patient’s hand, listen to his pictures. When he falls asleep,

I will stay awhile, pour out a blue lake, arrange some rocks around it.
Nearby, mountain peaks will pierce the sky, children play, women wash clothes &

two men will sway in a wooden boat that will never reach the shore.

A Gift For You:

What
do you see in the painting now? How do you feel? Pick a painting or
photograph of your own choice and give it to yourself as a gift to
guide a personal meditation. Spend time with it – one minute, five
minutes, twenty minutes. Then put it in one of your heart’s pockets and
carry it with you across the day. This gift will become a present for
all those around you.