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.

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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.

Recent Posts

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.

Days 269-272 – Heart of the Rose

Pinkroseheart664_2 Today’s meditation was written by Cathy Self, Senior Vice-President for the Baptist Healing Trust.

     Hafiz, whose given name was Shams-ud-din Muhammad (c. 1320-1389), is considered by many as the most beloved poet of Persia. He lived at the same time as Chaucer of England, spending his life in becoming a famous Sufi master. At the time of his death, the collection of poems authored by Hafiz is thought to have exceeded 5,000 although only 500 or so have survived and are known today. The gifts of his poetry came to us in English through translation by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The poem shared with you today is one that has appeared before in these pages, and calls again today from the thoughts and images that have been shared in these past few days. The title of this poem is It Felt Love.

How

Did the rose

Ever open its heart

And give to this world

All its

Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light

Against its

Being,

Otherwise,

We all remain

Too

Frightened.

     What thoughts do you experience as you let these words sink in your soul? How have you felt the encouragement of life, and Love, against your being? Do you feel its presence today? I hope so.  This world needs your beauty and sweet fragrance.

 

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6 responses to “Days 269-272 – Heart of the Rose”

  1. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    The gift of this poem touches my heart today. In the midst of sorrow, Love provides the bond, the strength, and the courage for loved ones to bear witness to pain and suffering, to overcome fear and offer Loving comfort in its place.

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  2. ann kaiser Avatar
    ann kaiser

    ” The encouragement of light”…..have you ever been in the dark and felt afraid and uncomfortable. A small light, even a small candle can bring a sense of comfort and warmth. We can all be that ” light” to one another..as the saying goes… ” A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle”. I believe caregivers are the patient’s candle when things seem so dark and uncertain.

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  3. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    I awoke this morning thinking about your comment Ann. How caregivers are the patients candle. I thought about the work you do behind the scenes. You communicate on the phone line with the team, insurances, medical groups, patients and families to obtain authorization for care. As I reflected the candle grew brighter until I realized it was a torch. You are so willing to carry this torch to the ends of the earth if need be to get patients what they need. You work miracles every day helping patients and families who may not even know what your caring hands do for them. For this and more I am grateful.

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  4. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    Day 271
    This morning I’m restless, conflicted and I can’t relax back into the normal routines of my life here at home. Not when I think of what my brother is enduring and I realize I should not have left N.Y. There is still time to correct my mistake of indecisiveness…
    Returning to Hafiz’ poem the words open heart, open mind come to mind. The same words are in the title of a book by Thomas Keating. I go find the book and open its pages to read about contemplative prayer. I decide to go sit in the quiet of morning for a time.
    A passage on page 67 of Keating’s book is one I would like to share with you.
    “Let thoughts come and go. No annoyance, no expectation. Waiting for God without going away, giving the usual time for prayer, and putting up with what goes on in the imagination are the most effective practices for acquiring true devotion. The observance of them will lead to a complete change of heart.
    That is the awareness we are trying to awaken. It might be called spiritual attentiveness. This deep attention is aware of external factors but they don’t make any impression on it because we are captivated by a mysterious inward attention. It’s like conversing with someone you love. You may not be saying anything special, but you are wrapped up in that person. If you are eating in restaurant, the waitresses may be coming and going, but if you are engaged in an interesting conversation you will not even notice what they are doing. This prayer is not a conversation in words, but an exchange of hearts.”
    Perhaps I’ve been wrestling with God.

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  5. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    Day 272
    With the recent events of my brother’s illness, I am thankful for how my family has come together to be there for him. I commented to my husband yesterday, “This is how we should live our lives every day.” Upon awakening this morning these words of Hafiz surfaced;
    How
    Do I
    Listen to others?
    As if everyone is my master
    Speaking to me
    His
    Cherished
    Last Words
    In my time of sadness, rather than recoil from the world…I know what I need to do, reach out to others and share Love.

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  6. Xavier Espinosa Avatar
    Xavier Espinosa

    The Journal brings opportunities at the most interesting times. It revives learning from long ago. Currently I am focused on the concept of “coming into wisdom” and I revisit all the things I have shared with others and that which I received and I am ever conscious of the fact that now I get it. In The Heart Aroused the author writes about sometimes imagining oneself like the men on the small boat cast upon the stormy sea and off in the distance the one you believe in asks you to step out and walk on the water to him and you stop because you are afraid to drown, but after all the trials and tribulations that you have survived, the next time you are asked to step out of the boat you do. You step and even though you are still afraid of drowning, you step out because this time you refuse to drown. My coming of wisdom gives me the strength to believe in myself and to be patient, to be sure of myself but be humble.

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