I've made a recent friendship with a hospice nurse and just forwarded this note and blessing on to her.Hello new and soon-to-be dear friend,I was rapidly thumbing through the book of blessings, thinking I would take one to the family Christmas dinner. As chance would have it, the pages stopped on the blessings for a Nurse. Then, I remembered you were a hospice nurse, and then I knew why the page stopped on this blessing.I got to know the entire rotation of Hospice nurses, and even the Chaplin, that came to my mom and dad's house, as my father was released from his cancer riddled body, in January 2003. He was 83.So, this is a more proper blessing, for the nurse in you. The tears flow as I type this, and then my mouth forms a gentle, upturned smile.Many, many blessings to you, for the work you undertake.I'll bring this book of blessings down with me, as I'd like to read you the one, On New Beginnings.BLESSINGS: FOR A NURSEExcerpted from the book: Bless the Space Between UsWritten by: John O’DonohueYour mind knows the world of illness,The fright that invades a personArriving in out of the world,Distraught and grieved by illness,How it can strip a life of its joy,Dim the light of the heartPut shock in the eyes.You see worlds breakingAt the onset of illness:Families at bedsides distraughtThat their mother’s name has come upIn the secret lottery of misfortuneThat had always chosen someone else.You watch their helpless loveThat would exchange places with her.The veil of skin opened,The search through the body’s nightTo remove tissue, war-torn with cancer.Young lives that should be out in the sunEnjoying life with wild hearts,Come in here lamed by accidentAnd the lucky ones who leave,Already old and in captive posture.The elderly, who should be prepared,But are frightened and unsure.You understand no oneCan learn beforehandAn elegant or easy way to die.In this fragile frontier-place, your kindnessBecomes a light that consoles the brokenhearted,Awakens within desperate stormsThe oasis of serenity that callsThe spirit to rise from beneath the weight of pain,To crate a new space in the person’s mindWhere they gain distance from their sufferingAnd begin to see the invitationTo integrate and transform it.May you embrace the beauty in what you doAnd how you stand like a secret angelBetween the bleak despair of illnessAnd the unquenchable light of spiritThat can turn the darkest destiny towards dawn.May you never doubt the gifts you bring;Rather, learn from these frontiersWisdom for your own heart.May you come to inheritThe blessings of your kindnessAnd never be without care and loveWhen winter enters your own life.
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