Journal of Sacred Work

Days 269 - 275 Hope

“So that is the dissenter’s hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.”

HOPE

by Lisel Mueller

It hovers in dark corners
before the lights are turned on,
it shakes sleep from its eyes
and drops from mushroom gills,
it explodes in the starry heads
of dandelions turned sages,
it sticks to the wings of green angels
that sail from the tops of maples.

It sprouts in each occluded eye
of the many-eyed potato,
it lives in each earthworm segment
surviving cruelty,
it is the motion that runs
from the eyes to the tail of a dog,
it is the mouth that inflates the lungs
of the child that has just been born.

It is the singular gift
we cannot destroy in ourselves,
the argument that refutes death,
the genius that invents the future,
all we know of God.

It is the serum which makes us swear
not to betray one another;
it is in this poem, trying to speak.

Note: Lisel Mueller was a German-born American poet, translator and academic teacher. Her family fled the Nazi regime, and she arrived in the U.S. in 1939 at the age of 15. She worked as a literary critic and taught at the University of Chicago, Elmhurst College and Goddard College. She died 2/20/2020.

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Days 265-269 - The Proximity of Paradise

Everyone has angels & caregivers are guardian versions to so many. Everyone imagines paradise. We sure need both right now.

This is just a poem with a picture I made awhile back.

The Proximity of Paradise

What is the look of paradise?

My angel’s proximity advises.

They track me through the night.

When no one is looking they

create a palace, make my body a cloud,

pour chalices of stars into my lap,

drive away male madness,

cause children to ask why

                            I laugh so much,

And pick clothes

         they know I can see through.

They can change the weather

with a swing of their wings

ring strange bells to warn me

of danger.

I cannot bear how they vanish

when dawn washes the dark

& sunrise hurls me from bed into

 a world where despair-drenched men

pretend that angels are nonsense.

Thank God one just whispered in my ear,

“Paradise is near.

Soon she will be here.” 

-Erie Chapman, 2020

Photograph also by erie

 

Days 263-264 Protector of the Light

For a woman of small stature, Ruth Bader Ginsberg was a woman of great influence, larger than life, she was a person who dedicated her life to the promotion, protection and advocacy of this country’s highest ideals. Known to many as "Notorious RBG  and superhero, she was a true protector of the Light.

Early in Ruth’s life, her mom was stricken with cancer but her mom was determined to see Ruth through High School graduation and she fulfilled this commitment against all odds. Although Ruth’s mom died when she was only 17, she gifted her with what Ruth considered two important life lessons that helped shape Ruth’s life.

First, don’t allow yourself to be overcome with useless emotion, meaning, the best way to win an argument is not to yell as this will turn people away rather than bring them to the table. Ruth was not someone who spoke to impress but was known to be a deep thinker and when she did comment her words held meaning. Ruth was a woman who was adept at building consensus and finding common ground. She believed that one should never respond in anger but to see it as an opportunity to teach.

Secondly, to be independent, self-reliant and able to fend for yourself. Her mother taught her to be responsible and to understand the importance of education.  For in knowledge lies strength and what strength of character Ruth revealed as she passionately defended women’s rights and equal rights for all. She believed that for real enduring change to occur you must build upon the ideals of equality one step at a time. Shed dedicated her life to this quest and her contributions, heroic and enormously significant.

During the red scare era when the government was concerned that there were communists hiding in every closet Ruth was inspired by the lawyers who defended the rights of free speech. The seed was planted and thus began her journey to fight injustice. After graduating law school, Ruth experienced discrimination first hand as no one would hire her; being a woman was an impediment and women were seen as inferior to men.  

While embracing the noble values that her parents taught, Ruth acknowledged  “the determined efforts of men and women who kept dreams of equal citizenship alive in days when few would listen. I stand on the shoulders of brave people, like, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Harriet Tubman.” Inspired as well by Sarah Grimke who was born to a slave holding family and who rejected her family’s southern values to join the abolitionist movement in Philadelphia. In her own fight to end discrimination, Ruth quoted Gemke saying, “I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”

Throughout her incredible life journey Ruth aspired to live in accordance with, “one of the world’s greatest jurists, Judge Learned Hand, who said, “the spirit of liberty that imbues our Constitution must lie first and foremost in the hearts of the men and women who compose this great Nation. A community where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest. I will keep that wisdom in the front of my mind as long as I am capable of judicial service.”

… And that you certainly did Ruth Bader Ginsburg and our nation mourns for the loss of one so true, whose tireless efforts and engagement with the law was fueled by your all-consuming love and concern for the welfare of others. You had the courage to stand up and be a dissenting voice, advocating for social justice as a fierce defender of minorities to safeguard our treasured values and our nation’s highest ideals.

Liz Sorensen Wessel

Days 257-261 - Good Leaders Pick Good Leaders

 Healthcare leaders can learn huge amounts from watching others lead. 

   ABC's Barbara Walters interviewed Jimmy Carter a year after Ronald Reagan became President. The country was optimistic, the economy was strengthening & Reagan's popularity was rocketing.

   "Why is Reagan succeeding?" she asked. Carter said plaintively, "Well, I don't know."

   We did. Carter was smart, humble, kind & high principled. But he was so smart he got tangled in details & paralyzed by analysis. Thus, he had trouble delegating, picking the best people & focusing on the big picture. I disagreed with many of Reagan's policies but he had those crucial indefinable gifts: intuition & a genius for communicating contagious optimism. 

   Reagan projected the tough & tender leadership people love. When he made mistakes, including a couple big ones, he admitted them & moved on. He  surrounded himself with good leaders including James Baker, the wonderful Howard Baker, David Gergen & many others. 

   President Dwight Eisenhower (pictured) had the same gifts. 

   Good leaders pick good leaders. That obvious truth struck me decades ago & I have wondered why it is so often ignored. Bad leaders pick big bad leaders & demand one thing above all - blind loyalty. That is one of many reasons Donald Trump's Presidency is doomed. As a bad leader, he has surrounded himself with some of the worst leaders in history.

   As we have seen with the coronavirus crisis, Trump lied & people died. 

   Health leaders can learn by leading the opposite of Trump. But, it is also true that resume-only hiring is a mistake. Hospital organization charts are filled with people who have professional licenses but no leadership training. Many won leadership jobs via length of service.

   Nursing & Doctoring require sharply different skills than leading. Leaders must focus on the big picture, inspire with high purpose & pick the best teams. This is true of people whether you lead two or three or are a President with 330,000,000 "patients." S/he can bring them healing strength through the Radical Loving Leadership of wisdom, compassion, humor, humility & integrity. 

   We need loving leadership in our hospitals & in our country. Right now.

-Erie Chapman

   

Days 256-257 Compassionate One

There is so much pain and sadness, so much loss; of loved ones, animals, wildlife, forests, homes, livelihoods, hope. I offer this prayer for friends, colleagues,patients, families, communities and all who suffer. We pray these prayers for you…

Compassionate One, we pray for all who are being affected by the devastating fires... Surround them with our prayer for strength. Bless those who have survived and heal their memories of trauma and devastation. May they have the courage to face the long road of rebuilding ahead. 

 

God who grieves,
Christ of compassion,
Spirit of comfort and hope,
We grieve with the grieving.

Those for whom the ache of memory taints the present and colors any vision for the future.

Those for whom there is a hole in their life which cannot be filled or covered up, but simply borne.

Those for whom memories are both sweet and sad and when daily encounters may unpredictably evoke tears and sadness anew.

Those who can’t and shouldn’t have to get over the chasm of their loss, but who seek to move forward carrying this emptiness.

We grieve and pray for those who have lost a sense of normal with the void in their routine living carved out by who or what has been lost.

May a new normal evolve, and may it bring some sense of comfort and healing.

We pray for those haunted by the ghosts of “what if?” and “if only…”.

May they find and focus on that which is positive and hope-filled and which dissolves regrets and unrealized dreams.

Resource them so that they may find the way to forgive anything that needs forgiving and to receive and accept forgiveness which they need.

Grant them wisdom and courage to know when and how to ask for help and support from those who care.

Insulate them from the inevitable well-meaning trite-isms and platitudes which might be offered, but which are too often unhelpful and come from an inexperience of the struggles of deep grief.

Bring alongside them people of care and compassion who are equipped with the resilience and wisdom for the long journey of the grieving.

Be with them so that they might know your presence, comfort and love and find in you the way forward to healing and life.

Bring us the knowledge and will to be your hands of help if and when we can.
This we ask in the spirit of all that is Holy.
Amen.
(Source: Jon Humphries)

Offered by Liz Sorensen Wessel
Artwork by ~liz

Days 252-254 - RELIEF! Tender-Hearted Leadership During Storms

   Just when we need our strength the most, many of us are exhausted. The twin crises of pandemic & racial unrest plus a President whose actions break every command of great leadership, have worn us raw turn.

   Neither the Journal nor the Foundation that supports it take political positions unless politics crosses attacks the practice of Radical Loving Care™. That has happened. Still, this is essentially an editorial that invites you to take a breath & help out in the final seven weeks of this Presidential campaign. 

   Trump is counting on you to give up. Love is calling you to stand up & turn the tide toward loving leadership.

  Trump favors division & leads with fear through bullying, insults, lies & a profound lack of integrity beyond anything America has ever seen in a President. We know Joe Biden & Kamala Harris are needed to do one thing above all others: Help Us Heal our brutally divided country. 

   Please click on the link (below) & express your view. 

   The health of our country our caregivers depend on electing a President who is tender-hearted as well as tough-minded. We need to #Reunite the United States!

-Erie Chapman

Days 249-250 Expressions of Truth & Gratitude

 

“Sooner or later, just by living, we are reduced to what matters, as so many things we thought were important and irreplaceable are broken or snapped like small branches in a storm. And somehow, we stand taller with less coverings. It is then we begin to feel gratitude, even though it's hard to be grateful for what is difficult. In this regard, all poems are expressions of truth and gratitude.”

I Bow to All

I keep telling strangers that
to be in the presence of those
with whom you can both share
pain and celebrate just waking
is the answer to loneliness.

Such friendship makes the shar-
ing of pizza in a noisy pub and the
standing in silence as the old oak
creaks all one could ask for.

In truth, this process of being
worn to only what is raw and
essential never ends.

It's as if a great bird lives inside
the stone of our days and since
no sculptor can free it, it has to
wait for the elements to wear us
down until it's free to fly.

A Question to Walk With: Describe a part of you that seems to be in mid-birth, a wing of being half-carved, and name one experience that is chiseling you free.

By Author Mark Nepo

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel
Watercolor by ~liz