The Importance of Being There
I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.—2 John 1:12 (NIV)
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.—GALATIANS 6:9 (NIV)
Compassion fatigue. I had heard those words before and now wondered if this was what I was experiencing lately. Caring for my husband, who has an incurable lung disease, and working with patients as a therapeutic musician was taking a toll. I felt spiritually dull, and also less compassionate. I wondered if I could keep doing what I was doing.
“God,” I pleaded one morning before entering a nursing facility, “I need your help. I need strength and inspiration to do this work.”
I found my patients in the common area, gathered around a table in their wheelchairs. “What are y’all doing?” I asked, forcing a smile.
“We’re rolling cookie dough for a bake sale,” one answered. “To raise money to help residents care for their pets.”
I looked at their smiling faces and gloved, arthritic hands. I watched as they painfully and achingly rolled out the dough. I saw God working through these imperfectly perfect people, and I knew he could continue to work through me too.
“Can I help?” I asked, pulling up a chair. I left that day not only reinspired, but with a renewed sense of empathy—all because of their example.
God, thank you for renewing us when we feel like giving up.
I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.—2 John 1:12 (NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.—2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (NIV)
The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.—Proverbs 19:8 (NIV)