When I began this blog, I thought I would post frequently; never expected anything daily, but surely once a week. Yet it has been about two weeks since my last entry. One who knows my history might not be surprised. I have been too busy living life to stop and reflect. That's not a good thing, but it is too often what happens. And not just with me; I see many others who have the same tendency.
To make sense of some of my posts, you might need to know that I spend my time in several endeavors: I work at a hospital two days a week, providing spiritual and emotional support to patients. Then, two other days are committed to my practice of spiritually-integrated psychotherapy. The rest of the time I pursue other interests including photography, spiritual and intellectual pursuits and my myriad friendships.
I share this with you because I have had some extraordinary occurances recently. On Saturday, I attended a one-day workshop on Understanding Buddhism. Most of my contact with Buddhism over the years has been with Soto Zen. This workshop helped me remember how much broader Buddhism is; how much it resembles Christianity in the variety of "denominations." One extraordinary thing about the workshop was that it was sponsored by the local Sufi community, but held in a Roman Catholic Convent, one of the emcees was a Hindu Swami, and most of the attendees were from other faith traditions.
In another post, I may discuss the contributions that the various faith traditions have to make for each other, but I don't want to digress at this point.
Another part of my life is as the adopted father of two daughters. They each have their amazing qualities. They each also are going through divorces, and look to me for understanding and sympathy.
One of them lives on the "Right Coast", in Boston. I received a call from her on Tuesday of last week saying that she and my grandson were coming to visit this weekend. Much of the last few days has been about them; especially helping Adri deal with her feelings about her husband's rejection, her trying to figure out the next chapter in her life as she considers relocating back to the "Left Coast", getting into law school and finding a job.
I love my work at the hospital. Much of the time I am listening to or working with people who are in great physical and emotional pain. Often they want to talk about their loss of capabilities, or the "death sentence" they have received. A lot of it is around end-of-life issues that most of us avoid considering. In order to function, I have to be empathetic, but also recognize that this is their life, their burden and not my own; all I can do is "be there" for them.
Occasionally I am especially touched by a patient. I have begun expecting that, of the 10 or 15 I see in a day, one or two will give me a gift--or be a gift to me. Yesterday was no exception. One patient with a broken arm, in her mid-80s, greeted me with a tease about my beard. When I responded positively to her spirit, she threw out another one-liner. We went back and forth like a couple of stand-up comics. We finally stopped and got serious as she began to relate her life story. She had been married several times--after number three, I began to lose track--to very weak men. She understood her error and asked, "David, do you think I'll get it right next time?" I sat there with my mouth open in amazement. Finally, all I could say was, "I sure hope so." Pretty lame--as she pointed out. I left the room chuckling. She had been a gift, and spiced up my day.
If patients say they have a faith affiliation, we try to visit with them whether they say they specifically want a chaplain's visit or not. On any given day I may see a few Protestants of varied denominations, two Jews, a couple of Roman Catholics, one or two Buddhists, and perhaps a Wiccan, or Muslim, Atheist or other faith community.
Yesterday's list included a young woman from a Roman Catholic background. As I entered her room, she began by saying, "I have a lot of issues with the church". Who doesn't? She is a Latin America major at a local university. She has spent some time in Venezuela, speaks fluent Spanish and is now preparing for an intern year in Colombia. She began talking about the loss of the changes from Vatican II, liberation theology and other movement for reform in the church. She has wonderful views of how the church should be about an "option for the poor", working for the benefit of the working class, the hungry, the orphan and widow. (Oh, do you hear echoes of Jesus' words?) She has been preparing herself for a life of service in this vein.
She was about to be discharged but will spend the next year recovering from a devastating illness. I can only hope that her idealism will maintain her through the year and she will be ready to continue her path. My too few minutes with her was an inspiration.
No comments:
Post a Comment