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.

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.

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Days 317-319 – Quiet

November 16, 2009

When any one of us is dragged into the prison of illness and hospitalized, the surroundings can feel so cold and noisy. Lying amid our pain, we may conjure images of softness, of being comforted by a caregiver with the gift of Love in her hands. We may yearn for something rare in a hospital – quiet.

Quiet

Still,

in the forest’s still air,

a leaf comes to me without the wind’s nudging,

as if I have summoned her

to soft onto my hair, shift to my shoulders

before she falls to her rest.

In the quiet autumn, I watch another leaf take flight.

Swinging side to side she skates around threads of a spider web,

startles a mockingbird, dodges the serrated
hands of a holly bush.

In the still air, the oak’s dying offspring arrive gentle. They know

I need the kind touch of their fingertips & yours.

In the pain of my illness, I want this quiet.

I want you to hold me still

as the still day, the sun

warming me, the sounds

of the world silenced.

-Erie Chapman

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7 responses to “Days 317-319 – Quiet”

~liz Wessel

November 16, 2009

This is a marvelous photo that floats on tenderness with a vulnerability that deeply informs the heart through Grace.

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Yvonne Ginez-Gonzales

November 16, 2009

hmmm…”QUIET” in a hospital is often rare amid the noisy sound of machines, the rustling of an often roomate, the extended stay of visitors and more often then most would like to admit to are the sounds that surround the nurses station and or halls outside the rooms…Not very patient centered and not really realized until it is yourself and or a loved one who is lying in the bed. Why don’t we personalize more of the work that we do??? I believe if we did we would be able to not hear the noises…Thanks Liz for asking me to visit this journal today.

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Karen York

November 17, 2009

You so eloquently describe the perfect place to rest. In the midst of illness or in the midst of a hectic work day, I hope to make this kind of quiet atmosphere.

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Victoria Facey

November 17, 2009

Oh, what a beautiful welcome to the season that is changing before our eyes. I can remember as a child in Chicago (home),searching for a pile of crunchy leaves to dive into! Living in California isn’t exactly the same, but when I see a tree that takes on the autumn hues, it warms my heart.
My first trip to New York years ago netted my first souvenir to bring home. For a few years I was able to use these beautiful leaves as a holiday tabletop trimming. But they eventually crumbled back into the earth. Nowadays I look at them lovingly and recognize the metaphor of live’s transition to passage.
Erie, you invite me to get outside to remember the quiet, accept the Fall’s warmth on my face and watch the leaves as they make their way onward – priceless

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Diana Gallaher

November 17, 2009

This is all so beautiful. Thank you all.

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ann kaiser

November 17, 2009

I heard the sound of silence for the first time in my life, when I hiked far back into the deep redwoods, where the sky was swallowed away by the towering trees and soon there was nothing left but tree trunks to look at,so tall that you would almost fall over to search for the sky. I rested on the floor of pine needles..every sound muted..silent..no cars, no birds, no talking..no sound. It is there I listened to absolutely nothing. I kept straining to hear something, until i realized that this is what silence sounds like. My soul soared and leaped with joy and I found immense beauty in those moments. I close my eyes today to search to have those moments back. These moments are a gift to me, to my soul and I thank God for sharing that with me.

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~liz Wessel

November 18, 2009

I find comfort in the silence of prayer.

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