Since "God is Love," it is Love we are called to live both as caregivers and in our everyday life. Sometimes Love brings us deep peace. Sometimes we may feel Love is abandoning us when, in truth, it is our fear that diverts Love from us.

   David Whyte's gorgeous poem "The Truelove" includes an exquisite passage describing our experience with Love:

   "…I think of the story/ of the storm and everyone/ waking and seeing/ the distant/ yet familiar figure/ far across the water/ calling to them,/ and how we are all/ preparing for that/ abrupt waking,/ and that calling,/ and that moment/ we have to say yes,/ except it will not come so grandly,/ so Biblically,/ but more subtly/ and intimately in the face/ of the one you know/ you have to love,…"

   I believe we need to love passionately and fiercely. You, as a caregiver, journey into the face of pain and blood and disgust. You confront disease, reach into the wounds of the injured, embrace the woman or man or child who has been raped. We need to engage Love to heal suffering.

   Then, the time may come when we may experience Love's grace, a grace that strengthens us so that we will be prepared for the next encounter with the suffering of another.

   As Whyte continues toward the end of "The Truelove," 

   "…when we finally step out of the boat/ toward them, we find/ everything holds/ us, and everything confirms/ our courage, and if you wanted/ to drown you could,/ but you don't/ because finally/ after all this struggle/ and all these years,/ you don't want to any more,/ you've simply had enough/ of drowning." 

   This is it, isn't it? For those caregivers who are willing to struggle, to carry Love even when Love feels like such a great burden, there is the time when we surrender. In our letting go, Love's light shines into our hearts. We have stepped off the boat into the water and, magically, "everything holds."

-Erie Chapman