Tuesday, February 28, 2012
40 Days with Still: Day 6, February 28, 2012
There is something special about how the physical and spiritual come together in healing; Winner experiences this when she goes forward at church for healing prayer. Have you known people uniquely gifted in offering comfort and healing to you in difficult times? How have they helped? And have you experienced times where you have ministered to another, offering comfort and healing?
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There have been times, as a church musician, when our music-making touched lives and brought comfort and healing. I remember a performance of the Faure Requiem; the In Paradisum was particularly moving for the audience.
As a hospice nurse, there have been many moments of offering comfort; guiding the patient and the family through very difficult times. A touch or smile or simply being present makes all the difference in the world. Serving others in this manner has been, for me, one of the greatest honors one could ever experience.
Ditto for me what Michael says about being a hospice nurse.
I have the opportunity to provide medical and palliative care to homebound persons. Most of my patients are living in parts of the city we would prefer to avoid. There is something special in going to see these people. Going to see them and take time to listen to them, to walk the journey with them which eventually ends in their death is very special. I have become part of their families. Neighbors hear about their "doctor" (I cannot get them to understand that I am an advanced practice nurse not a doctor) and the neighbors watch out for me and my car. To laugh with them, to cry with them, to be with them - for me it is a blessing. Caring for those beyond the fringe of society, in houses falling apart, in neighborhoods full of crime is an honor. When they say "thank you" I know it is from their heart.
Caring for them is not just providing medical care, it is providing emotional and spiritual care as well. Health and wholeness is not the absence of disease but a sense of wellbeing despite illness and pain and suffering. It is what happens when care is wholistic attending to body, mind and spirit, and when race and social class don't interfer with relationship.
Being on the receiving end is one of my growing edges. Perhaps being a caregiver makes it harder to receive care. That said there have been hard times in my life and thank God there have been angles sent from God in the form of care givers. Still this is a growing edge.
Nancy, remind me to tell you the story about Ash Wednesday and one of my patients...funny but poignant.
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