Journal of Sacred Work

The Real Power of Fantasy - April 1-5

  The license to fool people is expanded every April 1st.   My son was 4 when he saw "The Wizard of Oz." Later that week, high winds rattled our aluminum-sided home. 

   "A tornado will hit our house," our little boy shuddered. "I can't sleep."

   "This is not like "Oz," I said, "That won't happen." 

   "But it's possible," he insisted.

   I tried an April-Fools-type joke. "There's a pink elephant in our garage," I said. 

   "That's silly," he laughed.

   "But it's possible," I responded.

   Gladly, he got it and went off to sleep. 

   "Our lives are driven by fantasy," says film Professor Howard Suber. "It's a word derived from 'phantom.' It isn't there."

  Classifying a tornado-strike's likelihood as a pink elephant healed my son's anxiety. Yet, because of how our brains work, "fantasy" is often more powerful than measurable realities.

   Non-Christians view Easter as fantastical. For Christians, the resurrection fuels a vital energy: hope. 

  Radical Loving Care leaders understand that curing relies on concrete medical treatments whereas healing depends on belief. Those same leaders enable caregivers to use the most magical power they have: the administration of daily doses of love to enable the healing power of hope. 

-Erie Chapman

Image: adambarronphoto

Easter Blessing March 30-31

Prayers for peace.

Offered by Liz Sorensen Wessel
Background mandala  by ~liz

Physician Appreciation Week- Love is The Teacher March 23-24, 2024

In honor of National Physician Appreciation Week (Mar 25-31, 2024) I wish to celebrate Gladys Mc Garey, a primary care physician, who at age 103 shares her wisdom on life lessons. She begins by stating, “This concept is something that will help you in the way you live your lives and continue to enjoy the process of life itself. All healing comes from inside ourselves we have the physician on the outside and the physician on the inside. All healing comes from within us and all healing is based on love.”

“We really don’t understand our own power. I have idea that when God created this earth whoever God is to whoever you are,  God created the earth, and it was beautiful. He created human beings as the only creatures who have the right to choose and free will. We were given dominion over the earth. Human beings chose dominance and we've taken over the earth and done what  we darn well choose with it and look where we are today!”

“We are all reaching within ourselves for our true humanity, and that true humanity understands that we are the ones who do the healing that is at the center of holistic medicine. I have come up with these five L's of living. The first two are Life and Love and without life there is nothing. A seed can be in the great pyramid 5000 years, and nothing happens until love, which is light, and water softens the shell, and the seed opens and grows.”

The third “L” is laughter but without love it can be cruel. It can tear families apart. Yet, laughter with love is joy and happiness. The fourth “L” is labor without love, labor is drudgery.  You have to go to work, you just do this task and the next and so on. However, labor with love is bliss! It is why painters paint, that's why I do what I do, it's why you do what you do, it's what makes our heart sing.  It's that inner aspect of our being that comes alive.”

“The fifth one is listening. Listening without love is empty sound, it just doesn't make any sense if you don't understand but listening with love is understanding. It s my hope that we understand that love is the teacher and the essence of healing.”

“It is essential to take time looking for the light.  As we reach out with whatever we have, whatever the opportunity is, you can use it to help people in ways that you do not understand. There are a lot of people who seem lost and if you can smile, speak to them, and recognize each other as real people,  living beings that are in the same world and as we help others, we help ourselves.  As we do, love flows and love has to keep on flowing or it dies."

 Mc Garey’s philosophy aligns well with the passionate work of Erie Chapman, who has spent a lifetime nurturing cultures of Radical Loving Care and he has touched the lives of countless of healthcare communities, patients, and families in profound and beautiful ways, far beyond his ever knowing… such is the power of Love. 

With deep appreciation for the dedicated work of physicians offeringtheir skill and expertise, excellence, and a life time of compassionate service. 

Note: Dr. Mc Garey, she has several YouTube videos in which I obtained her philosophy of care for this reflection.

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Is Your Job a "Calling"?

   The week begins. We clamber out of bed with news Americans hate: "Oh NO! It's Monday!"

   For caregivers energized by their work's meaning it is different. They relieve fatigue using spiritual as well as material sight knowing that science's goal is curing while healing requires Love's sacred eyes.

   When Jack Chester, Esq., was Vice Chair of Riverside Methodist's board he cross-examined me once in a way that made me glad for my trial lawyer training:

   "Erie, Riverside's doing great in every area. How do you do it?"

   "Leaders practice loving care," I said. "Our work is a calling, not just a job. We take care of the people who take care of people."*(see photo)

   "THAT is what I don't understand," he challenged. "How do you lead with a theory you can't measure?"

   "You mean, if you can't measure it, it doesn't matter??

   "Right!" he said.

   "How much do you love your kids?" I asked.

   "More than anything!" he answered."

   "Can you measure that?"

   He appeared to get the point yet as a concrete thinker seemed unable to absorb it. To him, hospitals were medical worlds where measurement was "everything."

   Issac Newton was a science genius. His one mistake? That science could explain everything. His belief that science held all answers was like preachers who believe religion solves everything. 

   In this material world, Jack wins. It is his memorial that sits in the Riverside lobby honoring his good gifts of time and money.

   The memorial for loving leadership is invisible. It is etched into the hearts of caregivers who know that Love's energy brought out their best in those years. 

   What matters most cannot be measured.

-Erie Chapman

*Photo of announcement of EMPLOYEE CONVENIENCE CENTER at Riverside, launched when the great Mark Evans was SVP for HR. Circa 1989

Changing Lives for the Better Mar 16-17

“I early conceived a liking for, and sought every opportunity to relieve the sufferings of others.” -Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler

In honor of Women’s History Month, I want to introduce you to a woman who was exceptionally, gifted and brave and selflessly responded to the call to become a healer.

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was a trailblazer who overcame the barriers of prejudice to become the first Black woman in the US to earn a medical degree in 1864. Initially, Dr. Crumpler's journey in healthcare began as a self-taught nurse, getting on the job training in Massachusetts. The physicians were so impressed with her incredible skills and abilities that they recommended her admittance into the New England Female Medical College and upon graduating she took up her medical practice in Boston.

When the Civil War ended Crumpler moved to Richmond VA with a desire to help freed slave who lacked access to healthcare.  She diplayed an unyeilding passion and dedication to serve people who were in great need. She described her calling as “a proper field for real missionary work."

Dr. Crumpler devoted her life to easing the suffering of others and she is shining example of a woman who changed countless lives for the better. Her determination and perseverance enabled her to overcome all odds and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. She opened the door for other women who inspired by her courage crossed that threshold in their own quest to serve humankind.

Liz Sorensen Wessel
Photo National Civil Rights Museum

Important Water Magic

   The announcement came July, 2008. Now, of course, it is old news. There is, by golly, water UP THERE on the surface of Mars! "Water ice" anyway. 

   Why does Mars water matter? If there is water, maybe there is life? And water is magic.   We may go from "dust to dust" but we start in the womb's water. Water is so essential that it is the first thing caregivers know patients must have to survive. 

   Jesus-as-teacher understood water-as-metaphor so well that the parable of the "Woman at the Well" became famous. From it flows the beautiful image of "living water." John 4:13-14 quotes Jesus, “Everyone who drinks this [real] water will be thirsty again, (14) but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst." 

   The neurosurgeon, Ebon Alexander, whom I have quoted recently writes heaven's water "...is closer to the source...like the water higher up on the meandering river is closer to the springs that emerge." And it exists, he says, in the heaven he saw, as incredibly comforting. 

   A sacred gift my mother received at the end of her 105-year earth journey was being bathed daily by hospice staff. Afterwards she always returned with a glow as if baptized again.

   Caregivers become healers when they understand how waters can comfort suffering. The question is not whether there is water on Mars but do we understand water's transcendent power on earth. 

   Water is magic. With "living water" we never thirst again. 

-Erie Chapman

Photograph: Erie Chapman "Ghost Falls Impression" 2018

Trailblazers Achieving the Extraordinary Mar 9-10-2024

        

March is Women’s History month in which we have an opportunity to highlight the significant contributions women who have advocated for the rights of the marginalized to create a more just and inclusive world.

Let me introduce you tt Judith Heumann, known as the “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement,” who passed away at the age of 75 on March 4, 2023. Join us in honoring her legacy by listening to a conversation she recorded with her friend, April Coughlin, about the landmark legal case that would define her career.

The following is a short StoryCorps segment in which April Coughlin has a conversation with Judith about her journey as a disabled person and  how fought for her rights and the rights of so countless people.

To listen to this very special 3 mmin recrding recording copy and paste this link:   https://storycorps.org/womens-history-month/

Judith's story is the second one as you scroll down. 

Shared byLiz Sorensen Wessel
Photo shared by April Coughlin

Is "Okay" Okay?

   "How is our patient satisfaction?" I asked a Vice President a week after I began as CEO of Riverside Methodist (pictured*), still Ohio's largest hospital, in 1983.

   "It's okay," he said proudly. "...slightly above average around the 70th percentile." Then adding a deadly line, "In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?"

   "Why would it be 'okay' to be just slightly above average, Bob?" I asked. "Would you want to tell anyone, 'Come to Riverside. Our patients say we're slightly above average?'"

   My goal was not to shame but to send this message: "Okay" cannot be the standard for any caregiving organization. Caregivers do not have the luxury of offering care that just slightly tops average. 

   Gladly, Riverside became way better than average. Within a couple years we had reached the 90th percentile in patient satisfaction and sustained it for the next decade. By then, I had also founded OhioHealth and soon we acquired (or rescued) Grant Medical Center. Today, OhioHealth's RMH is a gleaming example of not just okay but high level excellence. What a privilege it was to lead that organization for 12 years.  

   Not everyone, especially the suffering, views life as a privilege. If you do, consider the daily question Chris York, President of CEO of Dallas Presbyterian, poses: "Why get out of bed to be average?"

   This is just one reason why Chris is such a great leader: "Okay" is not okay and must not be the status quo. He likes to quote Vince Lombardi: "If you strive for perfect you'll catch excellence along the way."

-Erie Chapman 

*Photo of Riverside includes proposed new women's health center.

 

"Hold Out Your Hand" Days March 2-3

Hold Out Your Hand by Julia Fehrenbacher

Let’s forget the world for a while
fall back and back
into the hush and holy
of now 

are you listening? This breath
invites you
to write the first word
of your new story 

your new story begins with this:
You matter. 

You are needed—empty
and naked
willing to say yes
and yes and yes.

Do you see
the sun shines, day after day
whether you have faith
or not
the sparrows continue
to sing their song
even when you forget to sing
yours

stop asking: Am I good enough?
Ask only: Am I showing up with love?

Life is not a straight line
it’s a downpour of gifts, please—
hold out your hand

 

 

 

It helps to remember our true purpose, especially in the chaos of this rapidly changing world. To breathe in the quiet hush. I love this poem because it is a message that I embrace. Thes line, "stop asking: Am I good enough? Ask only: Am I showing up with love?

I am curious if there is a wird or phase that resonates with you?

Each of us are needed to make our little corner of the universe a better place. It is no accident that we are here, it's moraculous!

Liz Sorensen Wessel

Sketch by ~liz