An Early Morning Prayer

If you know me, you know I am not someone who wakes up early for fun. I can wake up early. I choose to sleep because sleep is a lovely gift. I am not sure what is happening lately because I have been waking up an hour before my alarm and enjoying the extra time. Yesterday, I wrote a funeral service before my alarm sounded. Today, I am writing my second blog post long before my alarm goes off or the sun decides to show itself. While I don’t know how long my new found morning productivity will last, I am going to embrace it (not sure I have much choice). So, if you find yourself up before the sun, here is a prayer for you!

God, Morning has not even broken yet, and I am awake. I know you are awake as well. Thank you for another day of life. Thank you for walking beside me whatever this day may hold. As I pray, I open my eyes and see that light is beginning to illuminate life outside my window. Thank you for the morning. For all awake already, give them your peace as they go through the day. For those still sleeping, give them peace and good rest. As morning begins to break, give me what I need for today. Amen and Amen.

Book Review: The In-Between by Hadley Vlahos

You might think I would not want to read about hospice when I am not working. Why would I want to spend my free time reading about what I spend so much of my life doing? Except, I find it fascinating to see how others describe this work.

In The In-Between, we meet a nurse beginning her hospice career and experience with her the joy and challenges of hospice. For those less familiar with hospice, this is a lovely introduction to the beautiful work of hospice and a reminder to us seasoned people of why we do what we do.

I recommend this book to you if hospice scares you or if you would like to learn more about hospice. I recommend this book to you if you like stories about the variety of people who come into our lives and how we learn from these encounters.

Do What Fills You Up

I have learned that I need to spend time outside as it calms and grounds me. With the hot temperatures and our deck being under construction, I have not been able to be outside as much as I would like recently! Good news! The temperature has gone down below sweat as soon as you step outside and enough of the deck is finished for me to sit in my comfy chair outside.

I wonder what fills you up when you need a fill up? I wonder what brings you a sense of peace? And how can you find time to spend in that place or activity to renew your soul soon?

God of All Creation, It is good to be outside marveling at a portion of your creation. Help us all to identify and then do that which brings us joy, that which fills our soul, that which inspires peace in ourselves and in your world. For as we renew ourselves, we are better able to serve you and love your creation. Amen.

Milli and I enjoying the finished portion of the deck.

God on a Harley by Joan Brady

People recommend books to me all the time. I write down the titles in a list on my phone, and sometimes I get them read. Well, this is one I read and have been thinking of since I finished it.

Written in 1995, this book is not new. It reads a little like a romance novel, a little like a self-help book, and a little like a devotional. While I don’t know that I can agree with all of its theological thoughts, I do find myself pondering this book even after I completed it.

This is the story of Christine. She is a nurse who has been unlucky in love. She feels burnt out by her work and unhappy with her life. Into her life comes God on a Harley.

Christine is taught some of the ways that humans have gotten religion wrong. Now, God has decided to offer individual commandments recognizing that the 10 commandments may not have been the best rules by which to live. God is coming to each human individually to help make sense of life.

This short book-only 147 pages-would make an excellent book group conversation starter for the right group. Some questions I would enjoy discussing with others…how do you react to the idea that God is changing and learning just like humanity? If God made individual commandments for you, what might they be? Do any of the commandments given to Christine make sense for your life? How would God appear to you today to catch your attention?

If you give this book a read, let me know. I would be glad to discuss it with you!

A Good Reminder for Hospice Staff

While sitting poolside enjoying the shade and summer temperatures, I was observing the kindness of vacationers. People of varying ages were talking kindly with each other. A nice person held a door for a couple using rolling walkers. A man engaged in conversation with a child getting up the courage to jump in the deep end. Smiles were all around.

I called my friend to say that observing these interactions had renewed my faith in humanity. And she said maybe I need to run away to the pool more often as a reminder that not everyone is dying.

It was eye opening to hear my own words come from a dear friend. Each month at our hospice orientation, I encourage new employees to do what brings them joy to fill their spirits because after a hard week at hospice we all need a reminder that not everyone is dying. Sometime I get a little pushback from this statement saying that we are all dying at some point. True! We will all die at some point. For many, I would even say most of us, it probably won’t be soon. I use this statement in orientation as a reminder to look at the life all around us. A reminder to find goodness in others and within ourselves. A reminder to laugh and enjoy this amazing gift of life.

The truth was that I think I needed that reminder more than I realized. So, maybe I need to head to the pool more often to sit in the shade with a good book and enjoy how kind we can be to each other. And if I needed this reminder, I am guessing some of you did too!

Giver of Life and Conquerer of Death! We thank you for today. For an opportunity to see the beauty of creation, we are grateful. Open us up to realize what you are telling us today and may we receive the message you have for us. Send people into our lives to help us when we are in need and don’t even know it. Remind us of the seasons of life and help us to acknowledge your continuing presence with us through the good and hard and everything in between! Amen and Amen!

My view!

Pumpkin Pie Tea

Recently, a new tea appeared at my door. It was a gift from a dear friend. Yum!

I love pumpkin pie and the flavors of fall. This tea combined both of things into one tasty cup. I enjoyed that the fall flavors were subtle in this tea. It made me want to watch the leaves fall or put on a jacket to protect myself from the cooling temperatures. This tea works in any season to fill you up with the warmth of fall flavors.

Tea from the tea shop in
Fuquay Varina!

A Prayer for Endings

Last month, I joined my Dad, sister, niece, and nephew at a special worship service. A church my Dad served when I was a child was having their final service. While I hadn’t been back in that space in decades, it felt so familiar as soon as we entered the doors. Across the driveway is the home where we lived where I caught the bus each morning for elementary school, where my sister and I played in the yard making obstacle courses for ourselves, the garage where my Mom held many yard sales, and then we entered the church where my Dad preached for six years. Time seemed to slip away as the surroundings felt so comfortable to me. This is the place where I was loved and taught about God’s love. Many of those who loved me so well are no longer there, and yet we saw some friendly faces who hugged us as if it hadn’t been so long since we last saw each other.

The closing of a church is a hard, sad day. And I think this church did it well. For the first time in my life, I took communion at this church that nurtured me. It seemed fitting that it was the only time I would get to do so within these walls. As the final Amen sounded, I gave thanks for this place and all of God’s children who had ever entered these doors.

God of Beginnings and Endings and All Time in between. The end can be so hard and sad especially when a church is having its final service. Help us to remember all the good that poured out of this place and the people’s lives who were changed by this congregation. For the saints of this place who rest from their labors, we thank you for their faithfulness. For the remaining members who now look for a new church home, we give thanks for their faithfulness to this church and ask you to walk with them for the next part of the journey. For those of us who were touched by this church in some way throughout the years, give us a sense of your peace knowing that although this ending is sad that this is not The End. God, you are still at work through your children in this world. So give us the strength we need for this day and the new challenges that we must face. Keep us faithful to you. And help us to remember the stories we learned when we were young, so that we may share them with those who need a reminder of your goodness. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Giving Thanks for Creation

As I was sitting out on my deck recently listening to the sounds filling the air, I felt a need to give thanks. Here is the prayer that bubbled up from that time. I hope you might share a prayer with all that shared space with you when you are outside next.

Creator and Creating and Creative God,

For the gifts of this amazing place and planet we call home, we give you thanks.

For the birds that fly through the skies and share their special songs, we give you thanks.

For the waves that lap onto the shores, we give you thanks.

For the voices and laughter of neighbors who also call this area home, we give you thanks.

For the moments of silence when all creation is holding its breath, we give you thanks.

For the clouds drifting across the sky and airplanes flying high overhead, we give you thanks.

For the many reminders that we share our spaces with other beings both great and small, we give you thanks.

Thank you, Wonderful God, for creating us to be in relationship with you, with each other, and with this planet. Help us to nurture all those relationships. Amen.

I love being a hospice chaplain!

I was asked to write an article for Coastal Hospice’s quarterly newsletter about joy and hope in hospice chaplaincy. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy doing this work!

I am often asked how do you do your job? The assumption behind this question is that the work of a hospice chaplain/spiritual counselor must be so sad. And yes, I have the privilege to be with people for hard conversations and tearful goodbyes. What you might be surprised to know is that just as often I get to share in moments of joy and hope too.

Here are just a few examples. A 90 year old hospice patient pulled up his pant leg to show me his super hero socks and requested the next time I visit that I must wear fun socks too. For my next visit, the nurse and I visited together and everyone smiled as we showed off our fun socks. This has become a regular ritual of everyone showing off their socks at each visit.

Hospice chaplains can do weddings! I gathered with a couple and their families and dogs in a living room and officiated their marriage. They had planned to get married and had never made the time. I was able to fulfill this goal for them in their own home. 

We help celebrate special days. I have enjoyed many pieces of birthday cake with patients and families as we celebrate another year of life. I have eaten at the Chinese buffet with a patient and her hospice team because she loved Chinese food and wanted to enjoy it with the people who helped care for her. 

I have a patient who loves music and laughs each time I sing songs from the 50s and 60s with her. When she is done laughing at my singing, she sings along.

As a chaplain, I am welcomed into someone’s home and invited to be part of their journey. I consider it a privilege to celebrate the important and everyday moments of life along with hospice patients and families.

My Lenten Practice for 2023

When I started working with hospice in 2015, I received a name badge. Nothing out of the ordinary as it is one way to identify myself as I go into people’s home and facilities. Earlier this year, my original 7 year old name badge broke. Instead of getting a free new name badge, I placed my old name badge into a plastic holder that was too big and wore it. I did this for weeks until one Friday afternoon I looked down and saw this!

My first question was how long had I been walking around wearing this with no name badge. I retraced my steps to see if it had just happened. And found nothing. So, I did what I should have done weeks earlier and got a new one!

And that seemed like the end of the story. Until I was given an envelope a few days later. Inside was a note saying found near such and such address and…

My original name badge was back. Someone found it on the street. This person then took the time to mail it to my work address. They got a stamp, addressed an envelope, and placed it in a mailbox. They could have ignored it. They could have picked it up and planned to return it. No, this anonymous individual went out of their way to do something kind.

This experience has inspired my Lenten Practice for this year. I want to be more aware of opportunities to be kind and more aware of seeing kindness lived out in others. So, I am keeping myself open for opportunities for kindness. I would like to express thanks when kindness is extended to me and offer kindness when the opportunity arises. And this idea all began when someone took the time to notice a name badge on the street.

Originator of Kindness, You created us to be in relationship with each other and with you. This Lenten Season open us to opportunities to receive and share kindness. Ignite our awareness of the people around us and how we may meet a need in their life. Surprise us with the kindness we can live out. With thanksgiving for the many ways you share your kindness in our lives, help us to notice and do and say thank you. Amen.