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Chaplain's Chats Archive
  • Father's Day Reflections
  • Who Is My Neighbor?
  • Written in God's Hands
  • Praise Comes with Responsibility
  • The Aging Brain
  • Come and Hear
  • A Familiar Face
  • Entering into the Thick of Life
  • Where God Wants You to Be
  • On My Way



    • CHAPLAIN'S CHATS

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    Entering Into the Thick of Life
    By Jim Kok, Director of Chaplain Services

    "True patience is the opposite of passive waiting, in which we let things happen and allow others to make the decisions. Patience means to enter actively into the thick of life and to fully bear the suffering within and around us." - Henri Nouwen

    This morning I spent about ten minutes talking with a resident who couldn't tell me what was wrong. She could talk, but because of a stroke, she couldn't get the right word from her brain to her mouth.

    So we struggled together, went through a list of possibilities, and both got a little frustrated. There was a point where I thought how good it would be to go to that part of her mind where the word was stuck, so that I could understand what she was trying to say. When we finally 'got it', there was a great sense of relief, and even a little laughter.

    I thought about how we both experienced the grace of God by going together through that struggle, and arrived together at that moment of epiphany, when we finally 'got it'. And then I thought about how wonderful it is that God didn't leave us alone in our frustrations and struggles, and wait for us to figure it out ourselves. Instead, He came into our lives in Jesus Christ to struggle with us, to 'enter into the thick of life with us', to help us understand the grace of God.