Image via WikipediaMy bachelor’s degree in nursing is from Capital University in Columbus Ohio. Several times a year we get what most college alumni receive: an alumni magazine. This month had an intriguing article titled: “Can Teaching Empathy Lead to Social Change?”This past year Capital selected six students who were paired with a social service agency. They attended workshops, watched documentaries, read books, and volunteered. Not only did they learn more about that agency’s service – they were immersed in what it was like to be poor and disadvantaged.For example one student stayed 24 hours in an emergency shelter. In the morning she was given a bus pass and told to go out and find affordable housing. She said she never even used a bus before and had no idea where to even begin a place to live.Another had to identify and find three health care centers that provided no-or low-cost health care using only public transportation and the library – no cars and no phones allowed.Another … [Read more...]
SPIRITUAL LESSONS IN DETOURS
I live in Edon Ohio, a little village with less than 900 residents. Our homes sit on the crossroads to two state highways: north and south State Route 49 and east and west State Route 34. We head east to Bryan, our county site (shopping, work, appointments, and restaurants) and west to the wonderful lake region where many people travel to during summer.Summer is also road construction time and guess what happened this year. The Ohio Department of Transportation decided to replace three bridges heading east out of Edon. “State Route 34 will be closed for one month,” they announced last June. Ok one month of finding a new way east wouldn’t be so bad, right?Ohio winters can be tough on bridges. When the engineers started the project, they found much more damage than expected.“State Route 34 will be closed the entire route to Bryan until November.”What?To make matters worse, in July State Route 34, west toward the wonderful lake region was also closed and still remains so today. Again … [Read more...]
The Wonder of the Bar-tailed Godwits
Image via WikipediaEver hear of them? The bar-tailed Godwits. I didn’t until earlier this week when I read about their incredible feat this time of year.If you saw these ordinary brown, black, and gray birds, they probably wouldn’t even draw your attention. They aren’t that pretty with their long legs and have large bills. Their name, Godwits, originates in Old English with god meaning good, and wit coming from white, meaning creature.But it is what they do this time of year that makes them unique.Every autumn the bar-tailed godwit undertakes an eight-day journey from Alaska to New Zealand. The bird flies non-stop, without once breaking the journey to rest or eat. Then when spring comes, the bar-tailed godwit makes the 7000-mile journey back to Alaska.They are the only birds known to fly this enormous amount of miles without stopping. They seem to wait until storm winds can jumpstart their journey south, but by the time they reach the equator, the winds change and they continue with … [Read more...]
Naming the Chapters of Your Life
Image by shutterhacks via FlickrI attended a one-day retreat last week on the life of Dorothy Day. We discussed her life and how God was at work in her moments even when she didn’t realize His presence. The second part of her life was spent serving and loving the poor as if they were Christ. I have read many of the books by and about Dorothy Day and always learn something new. The presenter mentioned in Day’s autobiography, The Long Loneliness, she divided her life into three periods. Then she did something very unique: Dorothy gave each of those times chapter names: Searching (her first 25 years), Natural Happiness (next 10 years) and Love is the Measure (the rest of her life)Our assignment at this retreat was to reflect on our time line and if we gave chapter names to our life, what would they be? Great reflective question.At other retreats I have drawn my lifeline out in years, noting significant events and spiritual highs and lows. I have experienced great divine mountain top … [Read more...]
What’s Your Exit Plan?
The best seller, The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin is the account of the year she spent test-driving studies and theories about how to be happier. She also has an informative and inspirational web site and you can sign up to receive daily uplifting emails. One daily post she sent out in August continues to resonate with me. Rubin writes:“A while back, when I ran into an old family friend, he said, “Let me tell you one of my personal secrets for happiness: Control your exit.""'Control your exit?’” I asked blankly. “What exactly does that mean?”“It means, always be able to leave when you want. Drive yourself to a party instead of getting a ride, so you can leave when you’re ready. . . This resolution struck me as a slightly anti-social resolution, but I could see the sense of it…It occurs to me that “Control your exit” is advice that’s figuratively true, too. For me, a memorable piece of advice from Stephen Covey's classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is Begin with the … [Read more...]
A Spiritual Moment – The Wonder of the Human Body
Image by RichDelux via FlickrWe visited “The Bodies Revealed” last week in Toledo. Being a nurse I have always been fascinated by the wonder of the human body, so dragged my poor non-medical husband through an exhibit that some people would find gross. I loved it!Bodies Revealed exposes the human body in unprecedented detail normally reserved for medical professionals. The human body specimens are preserved through a new technique called polymer preservation. In the process, human tissue is permanently preserved using liquid silicone rubber that is treated and hardened. The end result is a rubberized specimen, preserved to the cellular level, showcasing the complexity of the body’s many bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and organs. All of the bodies and partial specimens were donated to accredited medical universities and all died from natural causes.The details in the human body reveal just how much God attunes to every minute details to our lives.Think about this:1. The … [Read more...]
Is My Vision Spiritually Distorted?
Image by -g-r-a-c-e- via Flickr I finished washing my face and searched the counter with my hand for my glasses. Ah, there they are.Putting them on didn’t bring the usual clarity I was used to, but a strange vision of colored lights and blurred objects.Water spots on both of the lenses distorted my view and created a surreal world before my eyes.Cleaning and drying the glasses, of course, brought everything back into the right perspective and I went on with my day.This morning during my devotions, my mind kept wandering, thinking about all the things I had to “do” today and the urgency of my all-important to-do list. Definitely my heart and patience wasn’t in my bible reading. I was not paying attention and to be honest, skimmed the lesson in front of me. Then I recalled yesterday’s relatively minor incident with my glasses. Odd memory to come up at this time, I thought.Lord, is there something You are trying to tell me? I knew God was nudging me to explore and to dig a … [Read more...]
My Calling – A Generalist in the Choir
Image by iDanSimpson via FlickrSeveral years ago a friend and I discussed our nursing careers with each other.“I am jealous of your skills,” I said. “You have such in-depth specific knowledge about the heart and how to help people having heart problems.”Barbara worked many years in ICU and saved many people’s lives. She was an expert in cardiac nursing.“I am such a generalist,” I lamented.I was surprised by her response.“Yet that is what I envy about you,” she said. “You have such a wide base of knowledge and experience. You could respond to so much more than I could. We need nurses like you.”We both laughed – each envying the other. And each of us left that conversation appreciating our own careers paths a little more after seeing it from a different point of view.I remembered this story from my past the other day when I felt the green eye monster raise his ugly head within my heart when I envy another person’s deep conviction and passion for mission work in Tanzania.Then I read about … [Read more...]