A man’s spirit can endure sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit? – Proverbs 18:14.
Like many of you, I strive to have hope in this time of concern for health and distance from others. I strive to look for hope on the horizon, and in faith I believe we will make it through.
Sometimes, however, when I talk to family and friends who work in healthcare, it seems as though they are just getting through each day with no idea what is really going to happen. They continue to confirm what we hear; that the best thing is to stay away hope, and away from others. This will slow the spread of the virus. When I hear this, my heart sinks for them. They don’t have any choice, but go to work and risk exposure every day. Yet, they do so for the health of everyone else.
Today’s encouragement is for those who work in healthcare, please read the words shared by Irene Joseph below.
I have found at this time of worry and concern I tend to vacillate between hope and despair. Being at home from work allows far too much time to watch the news and read all of the various articles written about the Coronavirus pandemic. When the weight became too heavy, I turned to a book given to me by a dear friend. The book is “To Bless The Space Between Us - A Book of Blessings” by John O’Donohue. One of the blessings I find especially timely is “For A Nurse”. I think at this time we should all say this blessing for all of the nurses across our nation and the world. They are on the frontlines caring for us while putting themselves at great risk. God bless all nurses. – Irene Joseph
FOR A NURSE
Your mind knows the world of illness,
The fright that invades a person
Arriving in out of the world,
Distraught and grieved by illness.
How it can strip a life of its joy,
Dim the light of the heart
Put shock in the eyes.
You see worlds breaking
At the onset of illness;
Families at bedsides distraught
That their mother’s name has come up
In the secret lottery of misfortune
That had always chosen someone else.
You watch their helpless love
That would exchange places with her.
The veil of skin opened,
The search through the body’s night
To remove tissue, war-torn with cancer.
Young lives that should be out in the sun
Enjoying life with wild hearts,
Come in here lamed by accident
And the lucky ones who leave,
Already old and in captive posture.
The elderly who should be prepared,
But are frightened and unsure.
You understand no one
Can learn beforehand
An elegant and easy way to die.
In this fragile frontier-place, your kindness
Becomes a light that consoles the brokenhearted,
Awakens within desperate storms
That oasis of serenity that calls
The spirit to rise from beneath the weight of pain,
To create a new space in the person’s mind
Where they gain distance from their suffering
And begin to see the invitation
To integrate and transform it.
May you embrace the beauty in what you do
And how you stand like a secret angel
Between the bleak despair of illness
And the unquenchable light of spirit
That can turn the darkest destiny towards dawn.
May you never doubt the gifts you bring;
Rather, learn from these frontiers
Wisdom for your own heart.
May you come to inherit
The blessings of your kindness
And never be without care and love
When winter enters your own life.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Sam