Last week was a difficult one for me personally and after a particularly hard morning I remembered a song a friend of mine wrote and played it in my car and found myself for the rest of the week playing it again and again. The refrain, “I ain’t the kind for giving up” reminded me of the strength and resilience that I’ve learned through hard seasons – reminded me that the grace that has sustained me before will carry me through this time and times to come.
With the return of response testing and quarantines, we are in another difficult and frustrating time, like wading through flood waters again. As I talk with residents and staff about how they’re feeling, I am reminded that we have been through this before. As the philosopher Heraclitus quipped, “You never step into the same river twice.” We are bringing lessons learned, coping practices, and strengths that we have gained from the time when other waves overwhelmed us. May the day come when the Activity Room will once again be the place where residents are seated in large and cohort-mingled circles following Jon and Sara’s armchair exercise promptings. And may it come soon. And until that day – may we be present to the difficulty that each is wading through, that all are wading through – even as we also take courage in the memory of our proven capacity to endure these waves working together in common purpose, in the memory that each of us has found the grace, the resource beyond ourselves to make it through so many hard times before now.
“I know, it don’t quite feel right
Where we’re goin’, outcome uncertain
But I, I am focused
Every moment more determined
I ain’t the kind for giving up
I’ll make a way for you, my love
I won’t be sold the lies of the world
‘Cause I ain’t the kind
I ain’t the kind for giving up”
May you be well and supported and may the blessing of God or all that sustains you, keep you safe, grant you peace and fill you with all that you need, just for today. Amen.
Warmly,
Joel
