Caregivers have superpowers! Radical Loving Care illuminates the divine truth that caregiving is not just a job. It is Sacred Work.
Whichever way love goes,
That way becomes my faith,
The source of beauty, and a light
Of sacredness over everything. –Ibn
Arabi, Sufi mystic (1165-1240)
What do these four lines say to you about love? Do you agree that love leads us to faith or is it the other way around?
Have a blessed weekend.
-Erie
What splendid lines! Love goes in a circular motion. It is only our perception of being separate and our fear that block awareness of Love’s presence. Faith stimulates spiritual practices that encourage a listening heart which is receptive to giving and receiving Love; and a remembering of what we are in Love. Forgiveness opens us to accept gifts of grace in gratitude. The miracle is in the sharing, Love naturally expands in unforeseen, unimaginable, unending ways around…
Victoria sang her favorite Donovan song to me the other day called, “Happiness Runs.” The song continues to go around in my heart. I share these few lines. Thank you Victoria!
Happiness runs in a circular motion
Floating like a little boat upon the sea.
Everybody is a part of everything anyway,
You can have everything if you let yourself be.
Happiness runs, happiness runs.
~Donovan
For me happiness runs when… My heart opens as a flower to the sun.
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What kind words to read as the weekend begins!
Beauty can arrive in a smile, a hearty laugh, a sigh, a kind gesture and in the eyes of the ones you love. That is the faith that we lean into and yearn for – the very thing we become devoted to. And, this is too a sacred encounter…V.
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Day 278
I was happy to have a little conversation with my brother John yesterday. He spoke with deep gratitude about how much his physician is trying to help him. He related, “I realized I had been fighting my doctor and it is not a good idea to fight the people who are trying to help you.” What he said next lingers in my mind, “It is like what is happening with the Jews and Palestinians fighting each other, there is a lot of talk. Yet, when it comes down to it people cannot Love their neighbor. With great emotion he continued, “That it is so sad.”
“People here tell me how lucky I am to have such a supportive family (my family is taking turns staying with him 24/7 at Calvary in-patient hospice.) They do not need to tell because I know! Some people here are all alone. That is very sad.” Johnny seemed reassured when I commented, “It seems to me you are in really good hands.” “Yes,” he agreed.
Strange, but I still have my watch on New York time.
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I grew up in a home where my Catholic mom took us to church each Sunday and where my father was a professed atheist. He often teased us that if we went to church he would stick his head in the oven and put an apple in his mouth. Yet, to me he was a spiritual man that expressed his faith in his love of people, and celebrating life in communal relationships. In his dying, I knew God was present as God had always been present in his living; whether or not God was openly acknowledged. Today, I am thankful for the window of doubt that my father opened in our household. It afforded an openness to questioning and allowed for uncertainty. I am grateful for this because I believe it cultivated an open and inclusive spirituality within me. I share this quote.
“Throughout the ages, men have been trying to fathom the meaning of life. The dream is to find the open channel. What, then, is the meaning of it all? What can we say today to dispel the mystery of existence? If we take everything into account, not only what the ancients knew, but also all those things that we have found out up to today that they didn’t know, then I think that we must frankly admit that we do not know. But I think that in admitting this we have probably found the open channel.” ~Richard P. Feynman
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One understanding I have is that the God of love is closer to us than our own breathing, yet ultimate mystery.
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Journal of Sacred Work 
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