Tears are close to the surface today, and the words "surface" and "service" are very close; saying one sounds like saying the other, so I begin there, with what is on the surface.
Service is something I've explored before, but today the word takes on new meaning as I find increasing opportunities for service, sometimes comfortably and sometimes not. As we grow older and, inevitably the people around us do too, and as we are close and able, opportunity and will combine in action. Service is something we choose. Service with grace is something we learn.
Peace results from service performed with grace. Service only out of obligation leaves us cold. Today, David, the intern minister at church related counsel offered by a nun when David was serving in a hospital as chaplain. Touching her forehead and then her heart, she would say, "Climb down the ladder." And when asked what she meant, would again touch first her head then her heart. He learned, he said, that when he left logic out of his visits with patients and came instead from the heart that he connected with them in heart-full (my words) service.
I loved that the very subject I planned to explore here today came in yet another perspective from David's sermon. And I love that from whatever direction we come to service, the message of service with grace is the theme.
Last week I was reminded of an old message that I believe is rooted in Greek mythology - that when a man would pass from this life to the next, the only question the gods would ask of him is is whether he knew passion. My personal intention and desire is that when I review my own life I measure it by the love I gave and received, the difference I made in the lives of others, and that I lived with passion. To make a difference, service must come from grace, not obligation. Grace and passion are cousins. And passion is the result as well as the root of what inspires us.
I've written before about weekends with my cousin, Anita. She was with me this weekend. Because her mother's health has declined, Anita will be moving to a group home, maybe by April 1st, so March will be the last month she spends a weekend here under the current respite care program. I love her. And she is changing, making our time together more challenging. We will continue as we can to take her to church, to lunch, to visit and share our family times. Change is inevitable and I have tears for the changes, all of them.
She continues to teach me so much. This weekend she said the sweetest thing. First she said she is learning all the time. I agreed. Then she said with enthusiasm, "When I come here, I learn a lot." Although she did not respond, I hope she heard me when I told her that I learn a lot from her, too. That does not change.
Breathing into change,
I am Phyllis, still Becoming
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