Renewal

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.