Days 57-61 – First Leaf – Journal of Sacred Work

The appearance of a Sweet Bay leaf in February is a symbol of a southern joy – early springs.

Lifeless remnants of last autumn litter the ivy below her new green shape.

Hospitals are homes of both first & final days. One way we reinforced the sacredness of caregiving at Baptist Hospital in the late '90s was to point this out – that each day at Baptist marked the first day on earth for fifteen people and the last day on earth for two people.

Yes. In that large hospital, the statistics were that an average of fifteen babies were born each day & two patients died.

But what caregiver finds meaning in mere numbers? Why would anyone want to deliver Radical Loving Care if sick people are just statistics?

To know that caregivers work in a setting where people begin & end their lives reinforces our mission to meet need with love. To understand that the people in our care may enter their darkest hours while with us is to transform a job into a calling.

-Erie Chapman

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Categories: Reflections, Holidays, Spirituality

Tags: caregiving. sacred work, Erie Chapman Foundation, first day last day, first leaves, Nashville Baptist Hospital, Radical Loving Care

4 responses to “Days 57-61 – First Leaf”

Todd

February 27, 2018 at 6:37 pm

I love the statistic that more people come into the world than leave it each day at your old hospital.
Many people think about hospitals as only places for the sick and dying.
This is an interesting lense in which to view hospitals.
Thanks for sharing!

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Terry Chapman

February 28, 2018 at 4:01 am

Very well stated, Chip. Yes, in V.A. hospitals, working as Chief of Voluntary Service, I saw “life in miniature” every day! My office happened to be just below the main surgical suites and occasionally family members of those in surgery, would drop into my office which had a TV on an adjacent area to my desk.
Though not always a helpful item, the TV did provide a retreat for those family members and I managed to work around the distraction it created. Just a small concession, I realize, but isn’t life full of small concessions to caring, loving, and striving to think of the other?

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~liz Wessel

February 28, 2018 at 8:00 am

Your closing statement so clearly speaks of the sacred work and calling of caregivers.
“To know that caregivers work in a setting where people begin & end their lives reinforces our mission to meet need with love. To understand that the people in our care may enter their darkest hours while with us is to transform a job into a calling.”
Caregivers who work in the home setting enter into the very intimate space of people’s homes and lives at a most vulnerable time; during illness, suffering, and often in the final stage of a person’s life. Indeed it is a sacred honor and a privilege to serve alongside such dedicated caregivers.
Thank you, Erie for highlighting, so eloquently, the “mission to meet need with love.”

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Sherry

March 2, 2018 at 8:07 am

transforming a job into a calling or a calling into a job…. When we find ourselves in those intimate times in those sacred spaces, we often realize that by God’s grace, we are living our ministries. Often when the question arises: What is your ministry, what is your gift, what is your calling; our friends, families, colleagues identify with their work as separate from their calling. I always found that, no matter my professional education and access to resources, staying in the present with patients and families, was the most important part of my calling. And so did my job become my calling, or did my calling become my job?? Now I am retired, and this special page reassures me that we continue to encourage radical loving care in a changing world. Thank you Erie, Liz and all. Carry on .

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