On being a Hospice Jedi

Note: One of the joys of being a Hospice Chaplain is that, every two weeks, I get to provide an opening meditation for the IDT (Interdisciplinary Team) meeting. I try to find different ways to provide the staff with a way to think about the spirituality of their work. I love using poetry - especially contemporaries like Anne Sexton, Annie Dillard, and May Sarton along with Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manly Hopkins, and John Donne. In the past, I've reflected on what I've learned about Hospice from children's fairy tales as well as Winnie The Pooh. This one is from Yoda. It was well received by my team. I'm happy to share it with you. 

Everything I needed to know about being a Hospice Jedi,

I learned from Yoda in Star Wars

1. “Do or do not. There is no try.”

2. “You will find only what you bring in.”

3. “Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”

4. “The fear of loss is a path to the Dark Side.”

5. “The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see the future is.” 

6. “Always pass on what you have learned.”

7. Yes, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.

8. “Mind what you have learned. Save you it can.”

9. “A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things.”

10. “Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.”

11. (Said just before Yoda dies) “Soon will I rest, yes, forever sleep. Earned it I have. Twilight is upon me, soon night must fall.” 

12. “May the Force be with you.”

Chaplain Elizabeth 

January 4, 2017