Among countless poems only a few have been life-changing for me. One came from my son when he was a senior in high school & shared Robert Frost's iconic, "Two Tramps in Mudtime."

The closing stanza caught his heart & mine. Perhaps they also shaped my concept of the sacred encounter which happens when love meets need. 

My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For heaven and the future’s sakes.

In one way or another hospital & hospice caregiving is always "play[ing] for mortal stakes." But caregiving is only fulfilling "where love & need are one." 

Importantly, the merger of love & need are always at play in any fulfilling "victory." The secret lies in the hearts of each individual who chooses to unite avocation with vocation. Where "two eyes make one in sight." 

You achieve this union the moment you see your work as a calling, not a job.

-Erie Chapman