Believe this Truth

As a chaplain, there is not one day or moment that I do not believe that accompanying people on their journeys, that bearing witness to their joys and struggles is not both and honor and a privilege. The intimate and often tender moments I get to share with the patients and families that welcome me into their spaces, is precious and sacred.

Through my time with them, I also learn something more about being human. I learn about the unique things that impact them and about the collective similarities we hold. Today, I want to share an exchange I had with someone yesterday, during our Ash Wednesday rituals.

Someone came to the office at the end of their shift to request ashes. They then asked how long we were going to be there to see if they could bring their relative. I hesitated to which they asked if it was only for staff members. "No", I said, "If you bring them we will not turn you down." I also offered to give them some ashes to go so they could provide them to their loved one and didn't have to drive back.

This person immediately told me, "Oh no, I am not worthy".

-How can you not? You are a child of God, I responded.

They stayed quiet and still, their eyes swelling up a bit.

-But you can bring them. We'll be here.

He said thank you and left.

I was not kidding and I am not. There have been times when I have not felt worthy of the holy moments that have touched me, of the mercy and providence I have received. I have been left flabbergasted many times by the ways in which the Great and Benevolent Spirit of Life has looked after me. So I understand what this person was trying to say with not feeling worthy, and I also know that the feeling of unworthiness comes from a wounded place within us. This sense of unworthiness is not true, though. It is real in how we experience it but not true in its bigger sense.

We often forget how sacred and holy we are, how our stumbling through life and our constant effort to be and do good speak of the divine spirit within us that constantly reaches out to the Greater Goodness of Life that surrounds us. We are children of Creation, of Mother Earth, children of G-d. We are made and hold in love. As John O'Donohue says, somehow Life wanted us to be here and we are needed. Our stumbling, our misdirections, our mistakes are part of our journey of growth and discovery and therefore holy, too, even if not less painful.

Within each of us there is both medicine and blessing that only we can offer the world. During this Lent Season, during this blessed time of Ramadan, as the Earth awakes again in the Northern Hemisphere with the arrival of Spring, may we remember that because our being here has never been up to us, that we have been chosen and are held in love through our stumbling and our journeys. That we are indeed worthy of the Goodness we receive and that each one of us has the gift to offer a one of a kind blessing to the world. Believe this truth, that you are worthy, enough, lovable, and beautiful.

Believe the truth that you, every part of you, was wonderfully and beautifully made. That your body carries wisdom of ages, that the Breath of Life, breathes through you. That your hands can touch, create, and transform people and things. That your being and your journey is sacred. That you are the manifestation of a Love so great that it created a whole world of beautiful things and beings for your enjoyment.

From dust we come and to dust we return, but in between those two points, our lives unfold as beautiful manifestations of the Mystery of Life and Love eager to be, eager to know, eager to love.