{"id":26919,"date":"2021-03-31T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oncolink.org\/?p=12703"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:14:59","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:14:59","slug":"grace-and-love-for-full-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/grace-and-love-for-full-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace and Love for Full Hands"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of the ways we support and encourage our staff at the cancer center is to periodically offer a \u201cblessing of the hands\u201d. We have also offered a \u201cblessing of the hands\u201d to our caregivers. This is a time where we give thanks for the work and care of the hands that provide and tend to many needs.<\/p>\n

I imagine most of us have full hands right now. Whether you\u2019re living with cancer, working in a cancer center, learning how to homeschool your kids, grieving a lost job or opportunity, navigating all of your responsibilities from home, or just trying to get through another day of isolation and anxiety, your hands are full.<\/p>\n

Now more than ever I\u2019m learning the importance of holding grace and love for myself in addition to all the other things. Sometimes this means feeling weighed down for a time and sometimes it means letting go of something else to make room. Sometimes it feels like juggling and sometimes it\u2019s a balancing act. Either way, if I can\u2019t hold love for myself, then I\u2019ll eventually be so overwhelmed that I can\u2019t hold love for others.<\/p>\n

One thing I learned from years as a chaplain is that a lot of people are simply trying to survive. When our survival techniques manifest in different needs, different coping mechanisms, and different theologies, I hope we can continue to hold grace and love for each other and for ourselves. We are all navigating new places with full hands.<\/p>\n

I invite you to participate in this interactive blessing:
Look at your hands.
Gently rub them together, as if you were soothingly washing them.
Now look at them again and read these words for you:<\/p>\n

May my hands find strength to do the work to which I am called.<\/em>
May they offer healing to those who are sick in body or spirit.<\/em>
May they offer comfort to those who are afraid.<\/em>
May they offer compassion to those who are hurting.<\/em>
And may there be room to hold grace and love for myself,<\/em>
even when my hands feel full.<\/em><\/p>\n

You are a person of value and worth. Receive grace and love and take on the day.<\/p>\n

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Lucretia Hurley-Browning, MDiv, MS, is a guest writer whose recent background includes Chaplain of Abramson Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital and the Director of Juniper Tree Counseling Center. She is a therapist and ordained United Methodist Minister. Currently she is a writer by day, a reader by night, and is passionate about living life meaningfully with a good dose of fun.<\/p>\n

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One of the ways we support and encourage our staff at the cancer center is to periodically offer a \u201cblessing of the hands\u201d. We have also offered a \u201cblessing of the hands\u201d to our caregivers. This is a time where we give thanks for the work and care of the hands that provide and tend to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45359,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26919\/revisions\/45359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}