Daily Devotion - Tuesday, June 2

An Affirmation For Our Work
You might want to read: Luke 7: 36-50

“I believe in people who care.
I believe the work they do
Is both deceptively simple and unusually difficult.
Their task is to offer those who so need it something irreplaceable:
Their own humanness.
They bestow a priceless gift:
Themselves, and the best of themselves.
They approach the other holding out what they have to offer:
Their sensitivity, their belief, their dedication.
They bring into the open what they choose not to hide:
Their woundedness, their honesty, their compassion.”
--James Miller

Today we look at a little more of Jim Miller’s “An Affirmation of Those Who Care.” It is coupled with an illustrative reading from Sacred Scripture, particularly when viewing the woman in the story as the primary caregiver.

Taking time to reflect on both the story and Jim’s affirmation can be helpful in a couple of ways. First, they can help us gain a renewed vision for our caregiving work. The demands of daily routine have the potential to drain both our regular and our reserve fuel tank. Second, they can help us get in touch with our inner core. Those of us who enter into caregiving work and stay in it, do so because something deep within is pushing us to offer our humanness and our compassion to another hurting soul.

Today is another day filled with the opportunity to care. Have a blessed day!

--Ben Keckler
06.02.09