My home is a small oasis of respite. I love it here. It’s full of old-fashioned things: old books, antique dishes and angels. There are angels in every room looking down on all who occupy this space. They are symbolic of God’s providence. His grace and care surround me everyday. My gardens are bountiful beyond reason this year. I’m giving vegetables away as fast as I am able and canning pickles and relish. The bees and chickens are thriving. Our Plume Poppy is taking over in front of the dining room window but we hate to cut it back since the birds and the bees love it. If I do nothing else with my life, I hope to offer a sanctuary of calm and peace in my home for all living things.
I return here after a busy work day and home is a breath of relief. Not that I don’t love my work. Believe me, I would not be practicing medicine if it didn’t fulfil my soul. The lifestyle is too difficult otherwise if there was not something deep within me that called me to it. Truly, most people in the field of medicine are committed at a heart level. But, we can get burnt out easily. I sometimes find myself getting frustrated with the smallest annoyance like after hours phone calls that could have waited until the next day. Take a deep breath…what’s not important to me, is very important to the person on the other end of the phone call. Maybe they have no place of respite for themselves where there is peace and calm. Many of my patients live their lives in chaos and uncertainty. This is why a caring voice is so important. Lord, help me have the patience to be that voice and to listen. If they know that I care, then maybe they will begin to trust me for the big changes that need to happen for their health and wellbeing. So I take that deep breath and listen. I give a little of myself when I take my abundance of vegetables to the clinic for my patients. I know that many healthy foods are not affordable, if they can even find in them their neighborhood. Will easing a little of their food insecurity even make a difference? I don’t know but I have to try.
Here is my challenge. I can choose to stay in this place I love, this garden of Eden I call home or I can opt to go where people are hurting, a place of concrete and asphalt, where very little is growing. I can’t plant love by staying in my cocoon, even though it is very tempting. It’s a false Eden. Nothing is perfect. No place is really secure. I can build a tower of refuge only to have it destroyed in a day. This I know. God plants in all our hearts, the desire to go to the ones who need what only we can give. We all have unique gifts. We can choose to keep those gifts to ourselves or give them away. The funny thing is, the more we give of ourselves, the more we gain. But it’s not in more things but in treasures of the heart.
Therefore, I ask again, how then should we live? Here is my challenge to you. Reach out, stretch yourself, but most of all-GO! Recharge in your place of respite, as I do, but then charge out into the world. Don’t let frustration or fear hold you back. Your gifts are different from my gifts but are just as important. Those that need you may be in your own backyard or on the other side of the earth. The world is in desperate need of someone just like you.
