Journal of Sacred Work

4 responses to “Day 284 – The Color of Life”

1. 

   Victoria Facey

   October 13, 2009

   Erie, what a profound description of an elderly person – grey. I agree with you and also notice that the senior population is often viewed as faded, background figures, sometimes void of the dignity of acknowledgment and respect that they deserve. I am drawn to older persons, due in part being raised by my grandmother and interacting with great aunts and uncles.
   My favorite thing is to begin a conversation with an older stranger and to see their eyes light up when the subject is on older movies or television shows, decade-old stories, or recalling events from their time.
   What a wonderful thing to give time and care to an older person who yearns for a little attention!

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2. 

   Beverly Grant

   October 13, 2009

   John Prine has a great song called “Hello in There” (also recorded by Bette Midler) that tells the story of one couple who has experienced life with victories and losses. The chorus says:
   “You know that old trees just grow stronger,
   and old rivers grow wilder every day,
   but old people, they just grow lonesome
   waiting for someone to say,
   “Hello in there. Hello”
   The ending of the song encourages us to connect with them, wherever we meet them in our own lives.
   “So if you’re walking down the street sometime
   and you should spot some hollow ancient eyes,
   don’t you pass them by and stare
   as if you didn’t care.
   Say, “Hello in there. Hello”

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3. 

   ~liz Wessel

   October 13, 2009

   Today’s meditation is tender, yet poignant. When we look with the eyes of the world we see only the surface but when we look with the eyes of the heart we see only what is real, Love. In many ways, home care is unique because we are invited as guests into the lives of the people that we care for. Rather than an impersonal hospital environment where the patient seems stripped of his/her identity, we enter into the very, sacred space of a person’s home. We are privileged to see the many colors and rich fabric of their lives in the surroundings, photographs, and in who/what they love. “We are all rainbows waiting to be seen,” stands out for me, as I realize how desperately I too wish to be seen.
   The following is a poem by O’Donohue which I hope you and your reader’s will enjoy.
   Beannacht, (the Gaelic word for blessing) by ~John O’ Donohue
   On the day when
   the weight deadens
   on your shoulders
   and you stumble,
   may the clay dance
   to balance you.
   And when your eyes
   freeze behind
   the grey window
   and the ghost of loss
   gets in to you,
   may a flock of colours,
   indigo, red, green,
   and azure blue
   come to awaken in you
   a meadow of delight.
   When the canvas frays
   in the curach of thought
   and a stain of ocean
   blackens beneath you,
   may there come across the waters
   a path of yellow moonlight
   to bring you safely home.
   May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
   may the clarity of light be yours,
   may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
   may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
   And so may a slow
   wind work these words
   of love around you,
   an invisible cloak
   to mind your life.

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4. 

   Diana Gallaher

   October 14, 2009

   I have often wondered as I’m sitting in an examining room with my elderly mother and father if the physician sees the young girl living in Nashville who was very good at roller skating or the young man welding on submarines at Pearl Harbor in his early 20’s. Or do they just see the woman with dementia and her husband who can’t stop himself from answering for her?
   Of course they can’t see what they don’t know. But there is so much more there than what is on the surface. I still look at an elderly stranger and often just see an old person. But I’m trying to be mindful of the richness, beauty of life that is not visible perhaps on the surface.

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