In The Bleak Mid-Winter

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter

Long ago.

These words, penned by the nineteenth-century English poet, Christina Rossetti, give us a descriptive picture of winter weather. You don’t have to experience winter in the Treasure Valley for very long before you feel and hear the winter wind she describes. This year is no exception and the Boise valley has been transformed by snowfall before the official beginning of winter on December 21st.


The winter season is when Boise normally gets its coldest temperatures of the year and daylight shrinks to under nine hours a day. But even as the temperatures decline, the sun reverses its southern direction and begins its slow climb towards the north. After the winter solstice occurs on December 21st, the days begin to lengthen slowly and by the end of January, our days will have lengthened by nearly an hour! This increase is nearly undetectable as we bear up against the frosty winds of winter, but the days are gradually getting longer. Much like the slow, but sure, march of winter into spring, so is the journey of lives. We can seem to be ‘stuck’ in a particular season and our lives can appear to be caught in a rut. Is there a part of your life you’d like to change, but the changes never seem to come? Perhaps you feel like this season of your life will never end.


Changes in the seasons come slowly, but surely, but what about the changes in our lives? Though we’d like the changes to happen overnight, this rarely occurs and our patience is tested as we wait. Can we let our faith be tested as we wait for the changes we desire? It has been said that the testing of our faith produces endurance. Sometimes it is endurance that we need - endurance coupled with the hope that change is possible. As this year draws to a close and a new year begins, what changes are you looking for in your life? Is it a new commitment to your health – both physical and emotional? What about new habits that you want to begin or old habits that you want to break? Building new or breaking old habits never happen quickly, but they all begin with a change in direction, like the one that occurs when the sun begins its trek toward longer days and signals the promise of spring.


Just as a long journey begins with a single step, so must our journey towards health and wholeness. Between now and the end of the year, think about the changes you want to make in your life. Talk about these changes with your family and friends. If you dare, ask them what changes they think would be healthy for you! Meditate on these ideas and then make healthy resolutions for the New Year. Even though the official beginning of winter will soon be here, remember that in the midst of the ‘bleak mid-winter’, that days are getting longer, bringing the hope and promise of the spring. May your hope increase and the promise of healthy changes bring you joy in this season of festivity.

The Secret of Serenity From A Former MLB Manager

The fall season is the time of the year that I recall being a young boy and going hunting with my father. We would hunt during the day and at night we’d listen to the World Series on the radio in our pickup truck. My father would search the dial for a radio signal strong enough for us to listen to and he always had some special treats for us to munch on during the game. I can still remember the taste of the hot chocolate he would make for us – even the miniature marshmallows that he would sprinkle on top. During those times, there was nowhere else I’d rather be. Those memories remain a picture of serenity in my mind. Even today, those memories can create the same feelings.


Serenity is defined as a calm, peaceful or untroubled state of mind. The word is derived from the Latin word meaning clear and free of storms . It depicts the absence of worry or stress and speaks of being unaffected by any disturbance . Most people have an idea of serenity because of the prayer attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr, an American theologian of the 20th Century, who had a gift of relating faith to the realities of life. The prayer has been adapted to many uses and it opens by asking God to grant serenity to the requestor ‘to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference’. How often are we today in this very predicament? How can we know the difference? How do we accept what we cannot change, but change what we have control over?


In May of this year, just two months into the baseball season, the Colorado Rockies fired their manager, Clint Hurdle, because the team was off to a slow start, ten games under .500 and 14 ½ games behind the division leading Dodgers. He was the same manager who had led the team less than two years earlier to their incredible ‘Roctober’ run to the World Series. After being fired, their manager was quoted as saying, ‘It has been a tremendous ride. It has been life lesson after life lesson. And I will tell you this, the last seven weeks I have said the serenity prayer more times than I did in the last seven years .’ Baseball and other sports team managers have the reputation of ‘being hired to be fired’ and often bear the brunt of an under-performing team, but Hurdle remained composed by saying the words of the Serenity Prayer.

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

Perhaps you can relate to the struggle we experience as we attempt to control the things we cannot control. Are you seeking the wisdom to know the best response to your particular situation? Do you accept the situation you’re currently struggling with or do you take courage and seek to change your circumstances? Will these struggles break you or make you stronger? What life lesson will you learn from these experiences? Will you experience peace, calmness and even serenity in the midst of difficult circumstances?
The words of the Serenity Prayer remind us that we are both powerless and empowered. The secret of achieving serenity comes in our wise responses that can bring us peace in the midst of the storms of life.


Sometimes I try to recreate those feelings by sitting alone in the car and listening to a baseball game on the radio at night. It’s not exactly the same as being there with my father, but I feel his presence as I sit with my hot chocolate in the dark and experience the secret of serenity.


Sources used in this blog...
HTTP://WWW.MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM/DICTIONARY/SERENE

http://www.wordinfo.info/

http://www.sports.espn.go.com/

Bike Blessing

Recently I was asked to provide a blessing to some co-workers who were taking off on a road trip on their motorcycles. They purchased group medallions to commemorate their trip and asked me to provide a blessing for these medallions as they began their trip. As I started to think about what I would say, I asked myself the following question...

What does the medallion represent?

Symbols convey meaning to us – you know the medallion has no special powers, but it symbolizes your thoughts, ideals and relationships. It’s not superstition – but it represents the things that you and your fellow riders believe in …

• You are a spiritual being in your relationship to God
• You honor your relationships to loved ones and friends
• You acknowledge and appreciate the ‘gifts’ in your life
• You drive conscientiously and responsibly

May this Medallion be a symbol of your bond and a reminder of all these things to you and your companions as you ride.

Blessing
May God bless you and keep you safe as you travel.
May you meet and encounter God,
…in the freedom of the open road,
…in the fellowship of other riders
…in each person that you meet and
…in the beauty of nature all around you.
May God accompany you as you go on your journey,
May He fill your life abundantly with many blessings;
May He keep you and your companions safe as you ride.
May His mercy, grace and love shine upon your every road.
I pray this in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
AMEN.

Laugh and the world laugh with you...

"Laugh and the world laughs with you," goes the opening line of a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, a journalist and popular American poet in the late 19th and early 20th century. While she is not well known today, the opening line of her poem, Solitude, is still recognized. “Laugh and the world laughs with you…” What is it about laughter that entices us? Laughter is said to be a universal language. When you hear laughter, you're curious as to why people are laughing. Did someone just tell a funny story or joke? Is a young child acting cute for his grand parents? All kinds of things make us laugh and when we hear laughter, we are drawn to it. When you walk up to co-workers or a group of friends who are giggling, you want to know, “What’s so funny?” When we hear others laugh, we want to join the crowd - we want to laugh too. When we hear someone burst out laughing in public – we sneak a quick peek their direction to see what was so funny - we may even want to get in on the joke, but the bottom line is we enjoy it when people laugh. So the first part of Wilcox's line rings true – “Laugh and the world laughs with you”.

But what about the second part of the line - "weep and you weep alone"? What is it about weeping that isolates us? Maybe a little background on why Wheeler wrote the poem will help. Wheeler was traveling on a train to the governor’s inaugural party, when she noticed a young woman on the train was crying. The woman was sitting all alone, so Wheeler went over and sat next to her to console her. When Wheeler arrived at the party, she was so affected by the young widow’s grief that she wondered how she could possibly enjoy the party. Later that evening, after her mood had lightened, she caught a glance of her cheerful face in a mirror and recalled the grieving widow. It was at that moment she conceived the opening line, "Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone”.

Most of the time our tears fall in seclusion, because we tend to withdraw and bear our sorrows alone. However, the author did not isolate herself from the woman’s tears; instead she sat next to the woman and comforted her. This act of comfort and others like it demonstrate compassion. Instead of separating ourselves from the one who is weeping, we demonstrate compassion by comforting them with our presence.

Compassion is one of the values that make up the culture of the St. Luke's family. As hospital chaplains, people expect us to be compassionate. It’s what we do. But I see compassion put into practice every day by those who serve our patients. I notice it in the actions of the medical staff that care for upset patients in the Emergency Department. I glimpse it in the eyes of nurses that hold crying infants in NICU. I see it in the understanding shown to families awaiting news about their loved ones in Critical Care waiting rooms. I see it as the transporters gently move patients through hallways and up and down elevators for surgeries and procedures. Everywhere I look, I see compassion in practice. Compassion says to those that are hurting, “I care”. Compassion doesn’t demand great deeds to be beneficial, even a cup of cold water given to a stranger is recognized as an act of kindness.

As you walk the halls of St. Luke’s this week, look for two things… the numerous acts of compassion offered by our staff to those in need and opportunities to extend compassion by your presence and care for others.