Nurse Wisdom from the ICU at OHSU (4.3.19)

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski

“Healing is not returning to the way things were before. Healing is allowing the trauma to shape you into something new becoming even more whole. As coal is pressed into a diamond, this crisis can press against you in such a way that something beautiful will emerge if you’re open to it. I don’t understand why but Wisdom is best served from the heat of our journey. The best way you can participate in the energy of your wife’s healing is to participate in the journey of your own healing. How will you be different? How might you allow this experience to shape you into what matters? This is how we create medicine out of our suffering.”
Parker Palmer says life is heartbreaking. Our hearts can break apart into a thousand sharp shards scattered across the floor. Or, our hearts break open able to hold our own and other’s suffering and able to hold a greater capacity for love. When our hearts break open we might also have room to receive unexpected graces hidden in our suffering.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes wrote,
“Refuse to fall down.
If you can not refuse to fall down, refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down lift your heart toward heaven and like a hungry beggar, ask that it be filled, and it will be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising.
But no one can keep you from lifting your heart toward heaven – only you.
It is in the midst of misery that so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good came of this Is not yet listening.”
#spaciouschristianity #spirituality #ohsu