A half-robed choir not sure whether to sing or not, these pansies ask: "Is it Spring or not?" After all, consistent with the post winter solstice the sun holds back Night's curtain longer each eve. But, inconsistently the days have warmed preternaturally. 

   During a morning walk I spotted another strange sight. Boys playing catch & swinging bats as if Spring had called "Play Ball."  

   Every year Winter challenges life. Trees play dead. People vanish indoors. Flowers hide.

   Two things carry us through: Hope for new life & our sense of purpose. 

   The sounds of baseball on a field normally frozen in January sounded hopeful. But the warrior expressions on some player's faces proved that sports are war's kinder cousin. Purposefulness is woven when battles are life & death. 

  If sports are "Just a game" why do so many play as if life depended on victory? Is it because they seek to make work "play for mortal stakes" so that it will matter? 

   The meaning of hospital work is so obvious it should be every leader's primary tool. Instead, too many bosses degrade the nobility of caregiving by emphasizing margins over mission.  

   Gladly, the faces of the seventy leaders I addressed last week at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center (SNVMC) shined with purposefulness. That is because CEO Kathie Johnson practices Radical Loving Leadership. Dr. Johnson, together with her leadership team & Cuemanity President Sean Keyser, knows that culture determines behavior & leaders determine culture. So she uses her power to ensure that every caregiver is someone she would want caring for her mother.

   Pansies know their calling: Beauty. The calling is the same for caregivers: to shine Healing's Beauty into the hearts of sufferers. Since fatigue can cool that calling leaders must always be the sun for every caregiver.  

-Erie Chapman

Photo by Erie