Borrowing this from our spiritual care team here at BIDMC:
Dear Beloved Colleagues:
Welcome to today’s edition of Sustaining Hope. In these emails we share wisdom and beauty from world religions, poets, philosophers, writers, musicians, and artists. These emails are intended to nourish your soul and bolster your spirits during these uncertain times.
Today, a reflection from Rev. Rebekah Ingram, interfaith chaplain.
“How are you managing?” I ask the elderly patient who I am meeting for the first time.
“I don’t know.” Following a long pause, he repeats, “I don’t know.” Further into the conversation he shares with me that he doesn’t want to go to rehab. He tells me he just wants to return to the assisted living where he resides with his spouse.
“I don’t need rehab!” he exclaims. “She and I walk the hallway together, holding each other up.” I smile as I picture the two of them making their way slowly down the assisted living hallway, carefully and probably sometimes clumsily supporting each other, quite literally holding each other up.
As we emerge from the holidays and the new year where so many of us found ourselves away from loved ones, this patient’s daily routine of walking the hallway with his wife made me think about how we are also working together at the hospital, supporting one another, quite literally depending on each other and holding each other up. It’s cliché, I know, but we’re in this together. I am so grateful.
-Rev. Rebekah Ingram, interfaith chaplain
