Journal of Sacred Work

Day 363 to Day 3 - The Virus of Perfection

"It is a wonderful day in a life when one is finally able to stand before the long, deep mirror of one's own reflection and view oneself with appreciation, acceptance and forgiveness." - John O'Donohue

   A certainty of NewYear's resolutions is that they will be laced with promises. No one resolves to "make more mistakes this year."

   Why not resolve instead to celebrate that our very humanity guarantees mistakes. So practicing forgiveness & giving the other the benefit of a doubt may be more important than resolutions to lose weight. 

  Leonardo da Vinci's "Virgin of the Rocks"(c 1485) is a masterpiece. But it is not perfect. We forgive Da Vinci. Why can't we forgive ourselves when try our best & err?

   Yet, caregivers are harder on themselves than any group I know. Caregiving in hospitals calls for precision. There is little tolerance for a slip in the operating room and no one wants to hear an "oops" in the Emergency Department or an "Oh no!" from Administration.

   No surgeon has the luxury of entering the waiting room to shout, "Oh my God, it was so bloody in there!" 

  What does it mean for a caregiver to be "only human" in her or his work? Step one may be to accept that we will err & that the error itself offers the gift of learning.

   O'Donohue reminds us of another remarkable line of Shakespeare's: "For with a wound I must be cur'd." Wounding is  certain. And it is just as true that only in our wounds are we "cur'd."

   Searching the bloody earth of our deepest pain we discover the stuff of growth and healing.

   Wasn't this true for Jesus? 

   The crime of life is not to suffer because we err. The crime is to waste Pain's expensive lessons.  O'Donohue writes that "so many people are infected with the virus of perfection." Every artist wants to create the ideal painting. Every caregiver wants a mistake-free career. 

   Humility teaches the wise that the window of perfection opens forever in another world, not in this one. The loving pathway across this life calls not for perfection, but for Love and forgiveness.

-Erie Chapman

Days 361-362 God's Light

With One Voice

In the adorations and benedictions of the righteous

The praises of all the prophets are kneaded together.

All their praises are mingled into one stream,

All the vessels are emptied into one ewer,

Because He that is praised is, in fact, only One.

In this respect all religions are only one religion,

Because all praises are directed towards God’s light.

Jalil al-Din Rumi 1207-73, Persia

As this year ends, perhaps like me, you are reflecting on the many sparks of light that have framed your days and nights. Many of  us are reminiscent of times spent with friends and loved ones far and near. We recall times of celebration, our joys and sorrows, of good fortune as well as hardships.

The above Rockwell painting is my all-time favorite because it reflects our collective humanity. We who are vulnerable, when gripped by fear forget our common origin. We create our circles of belonging that unwittingly exclude others. Our minds eye distorts our vision, so that those who appear different are seen as stranger or worse yet, our enemy.

Love calls us to so much more, calls us to remember our Oneness with all of creation. The New Year offers renewed hope amid perilous times, for together we can create a better world. We can be curious and in the process discover, "how to make a little more room in our hearts" for each person we encounter. We can acknowledge the times we miss the mark with compassion for ourselves and a humble receptivity towards the transforming power of Grace. 

Question for personal reflection: How can we cherish our heritage and faith tradition while honoring and offering hospitality towards people of differing beliefs. What unites us? 

Richard Rohr offers this, "Because of our inherent dignity as children of God, we are empowered and called, like Jesus was, to create a more loving and compassionate world. Responding to this divine invitation might be the ultimate gift we could offer back to God this Christmas season.

Wishing us all a year of expansive receptivity with compassion and kindness for all. 

Liz Sorensen Wessel
Painting, Norman Rockwell
Artwork by ~liz 

Days 357-361 - Secrets in Fog

   The Queen of Morning offers a gracious gift whenever she layers a meadow with the mist we call fog. On the morning I made part one of this picture (top) she had spread her grayest robes across a golf course.

   Sunrise transformed playing field into fairyland. Her spotlight anointed the trees with mystery & carpeted the dew-strewn grass with jewels. 

   More than 30,000 photographs & films flood my computer. Each one vies for a level  of attention impossible to give.

   Artists seek to create that which intrigues & transforms. Their truth may or may not connect with ours.

    Across sixty years I have come to follow Ansel Adams declaration: "I don't take photographs. I make them." 

   Photographs & paintings tell Beauty's story differently, one more "real" than the other. Since neither is actually the "thing" both are abstractions.

   Over the five years since I made the first image I wondered what else hid in the mist. Modern techniques enabled creating a new interpretation from the same picture. The first version offers "easy beauty." I reached into the same picture to express the identical scene in a different way (note the foreground tree in both.)

 Consistent with the artist's code, how this second picture was made is not nearly as important as how you experience it. 

   X-rays reveal illness hidden beneath our skin. Healing's secrets are invisible to both eyes & machines. For they are hidden in the folds of God's robe. 

-Erie Chapman

Layout image: "Two Views of Fog" by erie 2014 & 2019   

A Blessing of Joyful Welcome

May the Angel of Annunciation
awaken in us God's profound heartfelt love
for every kind of neighbor.

May the star of inclusive, Poured out,
Communing Love direct every decision
we make on our journey.

May our dreams lead us to profound reverence
as we bow before the Divine born in the stable of
every heart and in the stable of the whole universe.

May Mary guide us in birthing the Holy One
in our life and in birthing Love in others.
May Joseph engage us in deeper questioning and 
listening and give us courage to risk the next step.

May our life become a Luminous Presence leading
others to the place in their hearts and in the world
where Christ is always being born anew.

Blessing by Pat Bergen CSJ

 

Wishing you moments to cherish, moments in which we are keenly aware of our preciousness and that we are unconditionally loved just as we are. 

With Love and gratitude,
Liz

Artwork by ~liz

 

 

 

Days 350-354 - Witness to Tears

    Bruised & bleeding she entered the Siloam clinic in deep need. Radical Loving Care awaited her inside. 

   Once again, Maria had been beaten by her husband. As her nurse approached, she saw Maria rubbing blood off her leg with one towel while holding a second in her hand.

   "What is the second towel for?" the nurse asked. 

   "It's to catch my tears," Maria said. 

   Whether crying or not, each patient sheds tears within as well as blood without. Caregivers are there to heal both. 

   Caregivers are tear-catchers as well wound menders.  Day & night they bear witness to suffering, often hiding their own tears so that they may help others.

   Nature's grace, portrayed here in the roots of a giant mango, mimics our symbol for Radical Loving Care. Love meeting Need creates a sacred encounter. 

   Kindness is as important to patient's as medicine. When Maria left the clinic an hour later she wore both, together with a new gratitude for the gifts of Radical Loving Care.

-Erie Chapman

Photograph 'Mango Tree Roots" by Erie, 2017

  

Days 348-349 A Radiant Heart of Wonder

“The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces” (Isa 25:8)

Advent joy. Theologian Henri Nouwen described the difference between joy and happiness.

"While happiness is reliant on exterior conditions, joy is "the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing – sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death - can take that love away." Thus joy can be present even in the midst of sorrow."

Ted Loder offers this prayer called, “God’s Timing”

O God of all seasons and senses,

grant us the sense of your timing to submit gracefully and rejoice quietly in the turn of the seasons.

In this season of short days and long nights, of grey and white and cold, teach us the lessons of endings;

children growing, friends leaving, grieving over, grudges over, blaming over, excuses over.

O God, grant us a sense of your timing.

In this season of short days and long nights, of grey and white and cold, teach us the lessons of beginnings;

that such waiting's and endings may be the starting place,

a planting of seeds which bring to birth what is ready to be born—

something right and just and different, a new song, a deeper relationship, a fuller love—

in the fullness of your time.

O God, grant us the sense of your timing.

Finally, the late John O' Donohue  encourages, let us not, "let our days fall away like empty shells and miss all the treasure… Each day is a secret story woven around the radiant heart of wonder. The sacred duty of being an individual is to gradually learn how to live so as to awaken the eternal within you." 

I wish to express how grateful I am for all the treasures you have bestowed upon me in this life. May they return to you a thousand fold. May you know joy and may the peace that surpasses all understanding be with you in every waking moment.

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel
Artwork by ~liz

Days 343-347 - Pride or Gratitude?

   It is a predictable rite among grandparents.  Someone brings out a picture of their grands. Like skilled gunslingers the others draw their cellphones & fire.

   I'm doing it here: "Look," I signal you, "There's me (9 years ago)  reading to my son's son (Miles) & my daughter's daughter." Then I wait for you to say, "Wow,  aren't they cute!" Before the sentence ends you draw your cell phone & show your pictures. 

   It is an enjoyable way for grandparents to find common ground & maybe to crow a bit.

   When I saw the recent picture (below) of Miles standing between my son & me a thought occurred: I show pictures of offspring. But I guarantee you that 15-year-old Miles is definitely not whipping out his cell phone & saying to his friends, "Hey, look at my grandpa & dad."

 This ritual of picture-sharing does not extend to teenagers. Is it because the elders have done the caregiving & feel proud whereas the kids have not done that yet? 

   If so, there may be a flaw in the ritual. I learned it thirty years ago from a friend. After I bragged about something my son had done he asked me, "Did you do those things or did he?" 

   "Him, of course," I stammered.

   "What if you said you were grateful rather than proud?" he asked.

   The message stayed with me & I pass it to you. It is tempting to take pride for successful offspring & easy to shift blame if the outcome was otherwise.

   A dear friend has two adult sons. One has turned out well. The other has often been imprisoned. 

   Love teaches us that gratitude in one case & grief in the other are more healing than grabbing credit or assigning blame. Imagine if leaders used the same principles with staff.  

-Erie Chapman 

Days 341-342 Amazing Peace

Note: Excerpt of poem "Amazing Peace," a Christmas poem by Maya Angelou

Something to consider this during this unfolding Advent week that calls us to cultivate Peace within.

 

We hear a whisper
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We, Angels and Mortal's, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.

Reflection offered by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Angel of Peace by ~liz

Days 336-340 - How Storypower Made Illness a Gift

After New York Times essayist Anatole Broyard learned he was terminally ill he made a transcendent choice: To take charge of his illness by changing his life story. In Broyard's hands, what most would see as terrifying & victimizing became a tale of triumph told with some of his finest writing.

"...[my diagnosis] was like an immense electric shock," Broyard wrote. "I felt galvanized. I was a new person. All of my old trivial selves fell away and I was reduced to my essence." (italics added.)

Imagine being "galvanized" by news of your imminent death! Instead of thrashing in panic, Broyard swam straight into the waves. From amid the storms of his illness he created a story that reinforced one of life's most important truths: "...narratives are the most effective ways to keep our humanity alive," he wrote.

Isn't this true of all of us whether we are ill or well? Metaphor is more powerful than medicine for engaging the terminal condition we call life.

The cause of death is life. How else can we make any sense of it except through story? Huckleberry Finn captivates us through storytelling not through Power Point analysis.

"...a sick person can make a story out of his illness as a way of trying to detoxify it," Broyard wrote.

Imagine how caregiver's lives would change if they transformed the typical challenges of anxiety, success & drudgery into a narrative of meaning! Story therapy, art therapy, occupational therapy - all of these can restore life's most crucial source of energy - Hope.

What if caregivers engaged these therapies personally? What if leaders were trained to reimagine their work through the lens of new stories built from their daily lives?

Beyond clinical diagnosis lives humanity. Lose that & both patient & caregiver are cast adrift in a sea of misery unrelieved by what we need most - Love.

-Erie Chapman

Photoart: "Teresa's Hope" by Erie, 2019

NB: This column is based in part on a Journal entry from 2012