Recent Blessings
The meeting with physicians in Watertown was over and I was driving back to Sioux Falls. “So what’s your topic for this quarter?” my inner voice asked.
“How about my describing some recent blessings?” I offered.
“Recent blessings? Pretty dull stuff, wouldn’t you say?” the inner voice countered.
“Depends on what I have to say. If the items are meaningful, I think people will read through to see what I have to say.”
“Okay, so what do you want to tell people?" the voice inquired.
“How about this?” I countered. And I began to describe the following:
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Preparing for and teaching a course called Spirituality and Medicine to fourth year medical students during September was so satisfying. Marilyn Moor, coordinator of Education at the Sanford School of Medicine and I team-taught the seven-night classes using artcles and a number of stories from Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD. The students wrote short one-page reflections on assigned topics in preparation for each class, as well as a question for discussion on each assigned story. The ensuing class discussions were wonderful. In addition we had a different visiting physician attend each class – someone who comfortably shared his or her thoughts about the role spirituality plays in medical care and how the young students might attend to the spiritual well-being of their patients. Before the first class was over it was apparent that the 10 of us in the room [two leaders, seven students and the visiting physician] would transform the class table into a kitchen table where people felt free to raise questions and share experiences – the very thing Remen’s book is meant to bring about. That’s one blessing.
Another blessing was getting ready for the Leaders in Ministry Program at the Broom Tree Retreat Center in Irene. Early in September we had our first session with the 15 people who make up this year’s cohort. When you find out so quickly that the majority of people feel free enough to speak up and contribute aloud, and there are people in the group with quick, wonderful senses of humor, those are indicators that the year will be a good one. In addition, when we went around the room and people described why they applied for the program, there was a sense that people were there for the right reasons. They knew it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for professional learning, richer relationships, and enhanced personal growth.
I think of two other happenings as I look back on the last couple of months; both were ‘starter’ meetings. The first was with several employees at Accounts Management, Inc. [AMI] where we began to discuss stories from Kitchen Table Wisdom. Most members of the group have been together for three years now, meeting once a month to talk about the year’s mission leadership book. As time has passed, most members have become more comfortable with the process, and the conversations have become increasingly rich. Last month, in September, there was a nice feel to the group of returnees as we settled in to talk about the Remen stories. Last year it was a special experience discussing the stories in The Working Poor with these Avera employees who spend a good portion of their day in phone conversations with poor people in our region. Our AMI people, perhaps more than other Avera staff, know from the people they care for what the challenges are in being poor.
The other ‘starter’ event was meeting late in September with eight physicians in Watertown, beginning our ninth year as a physician reflection group. Coordinated and championed by Dr. Clark Likness, the group has began discussing a book that addresses the relationship between medicine and spirituality. The book, A Balm for Gilead: Medita-tions on Spirituality and the Healing Arts, is written by Daniel P. Sulmasy, OFM, MD, an internist at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan where he serves as a professor of medicine and director of the Bioethics Institute at New York Medical College. The book is deeply spiritual and will lend itself, if the first session is any indication, to some wonderful physician sharing in the coming months. When I first read the book, I thought, “This is one rich text, and I need and want to read it again.” Thus, when Dr. Likness asked if I had any suggestions for his group this year, I unhesitatingly said, the new Sulmasy book, A Balm for Gilead.
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“Do you think anyone will be interested in what you’ve just told me?” my inner voice finally blurted forth.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But one thing I can tell you: it doesn’t get any better than all that!” At which point I paused, indicating I was finished.