'Did you know that a heart can get stronger in all the broken places?'

Since starting my advocacy work for Hospice last June, people have told me the most amazing, personal, goosebump-inducing stories about loved ones in their last days. They've also thrust books into my hands containing many more such accounts of the shimmering veil between this life and the next. I recently devoured one of these treasures, Midwife for Souls, written by a devout Catholic who is also a hospice nurse. Here's how the book ends...and I can't stop thinking about how beautiful and true these words are--not just in hospice, but in all of life:

At the beginning of my work in hospice I always held back, reserving a part of myself, for fear that my heart would break. For years I refused to care for dying children because I believed that my heart just wasn’t strong enough. By the time I met Brice [a pediatric patient], I’d had my heart broken before. Years have passed, and I’ve had my heart broken many times since, doing this work. It’s the most amazing thing. Did you know that a heart can get stronger in all the broken places? I used to think it took a strong heart to do difficult things. Now I know that doing difficult things is how you get one.

Kalina, Kathy (2011-06-24). Midwife for Souls (Kindle Locations 1785-1789). Pauline Books and Media. Kindle Edition.

"Go placidly amid the noise and the haste..." (My mother always said silence is golden.)

I happened upon this poem while visiting a doctor's office for Hospice a few weeks ago, and it keeps coming back to me. How had I not heard of this before?



"Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann, 1927

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious
to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter, for always
there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the  changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment;
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations
in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.