So often we are the recipients of the phrase “Take Care” as a good-bye message. It’s a lot like, “See you later”, “How’s it going?” and “How are you?”. Those rhetorical questions and comments that we all say and hear but never really think about. Well, “care” is a word that has often made me stop and think, made me feel, a word that often touches my soul…..and not always in a positive way. One of my first “spiritual” experiences with the word came when someone told me “I realize you really don’t care, but would it kill you to act like you do?”. The reason that this statement had such a big impact was that I really did care. I evolved from that experience and was hit with “I realize that you really do care, but wold it kill you to show it to other people?”.
As I venture off into this new career of ministry, pastoral care and chaplain care are not only nice thoughts, but actually identifiable job responsibilities and duties. There are classes dedicated to professional “care-giving”. As I give this more thought (and this whole post is just coming off the cuff wihtout edits) The Comment “Take Care” isn’t something someone does for you, it is something you do for your self. And in our profession it is a critical job responsibility because if you don’t care for yourself you won’t have the resources to care for others…..and that’s what you are getting paid to do.
So I’m going to end the wandering with that thought since it’s time to get Sophie to her softball game. You will get more on this in the future, it is evolving as a critical idea in the retirement and transition training I’ve been doing. So, Take Care!
