Caregiving, The Paradox

Caregiving, it gives life.
Compassion shared,
patience granted,
empathy bestowed.

Life is given.
In hearing other's stories we are invited onto sacred ground.
Life is honored.
While engaging others, we encounter God.
Life is drained.
Caregiving, the paradox, it drains life.
Powerless to stop it, death comes defying our efforts.
Helpless to fix it, the pain of grief consumes.
Grief drains, questions plague, energy flees.

Life is paradox, death the teacher.
to celebrate simplicity,
to live the questions,
to embrace the essence.

Death, friend and foe, helps me,
to focus on the essentials;
faith, family, friends
to honor the Holy within and without
to cherish the gifts of living and loving