Mission Moments Blog

Courage and Determination

A great example of courage and determination can be seen in the life of Stephen Hawking, a British astrophysicist who was first diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease at age 21 while still a student at Cambridge University, England.  On January 8, he celebrated his 70th birthday. Those who are diagnosed when young have a better survival rate but it is unusual to live with the disease for decades. He states on his website, "I have had (Lou Gehrig's disease) for practically all my adult life. Yet it has not prevented me from having a very attractive family and being successful in my work. I try to lead as normal a life as possible and not think about my condition or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not that many."

His accomplishments include A Brief History of Time, published in 1988 which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. He taught mathematics at Cambridge for 30 years, retiring in 2009 to direct the Universities Center for Theoretical Cosmology. He has been photographed with Popes and President Barack Obama, taken trips to China, been married twice and has three children and three grandchildren. He has coauthored children’s physics books with his daughter, Lucy, and flown in a space simulator among many other adventures. He has accomplished all this even though he has been almost completely paralyzed and in a wheelchair since 1970.

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Never Alone

Debbie Bass from the Foundation for SMMC shared this story with me and I found it to be very encouraging. It is a legend about the rite of passage a young Cherokee Indian boy must endure to become a man. It teaches us that no matter how alone we feel, we are never truly alone.

A boy’s father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him an leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the entire night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

Naturally, the boy is terrified. He hears all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Another human might even do him harm. The wind blows the grass and earth, and shakes his stump, but he sits stoically, never removing the blindfold. This is the only way he can become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appears and the boy removes his blindfold. It is then that he discovers his father sitting on the stump next to him. He has been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. Just because you can't see God, doesn't mean He is not there.

"For we walk by faith, not by sight."

-Mark Stoddart

Privileged Presence

As my friend and I sat in the large waiting room at Mayo Clinic waiting for our high school and college friend to come from her latest oncology appointment, we noticed so many families gathered there waiting for news from the doctors. What I noticed was the peace in the room as the patients and families waited. People were at computers checking the Internet, children were playing in an area arranged just for them and very comfortable chairs were placed to look out of the windows as people waited for their names to be called. A healing presence was felt by the way the staff quietly called out names or came to get patients with such a gentle spirit. Patients and their families reached out to others who they did not know, but had a common bond called cancer. The support and kindness to each other was noticeable. A touch, a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on was offered and accepted.

Our friend came from her appointment with news that she needed radiation on the spot in her lung, as well as a different kind of chemotherapy and freezing of a spot on her rib. She debated a variety of options and wondered if should she do anything for more time with her family – even if only for a few months. What she needed at that moment was to have love and support, as well as someone to listen to her, hold her, cry with her and pray with her. It was our privilege to be with her at this critical time.

Each day we have the privilege of sharing our love and support with patients and their families in some of the most important and vulnerable times in their lives. Some of them do not have families and friends close by to help them on their journey. As we take care of their physical needs, our presence can also be a healing presence. This is our sacred work.

-Candy Seltman

Stamina

When I was in high school, the sport I excelled in the most was swimming. While I enjoyed playing other sports like baseball and basketball more, it was in swimming where I performed best. I was in the seventh grade when the ornery high school swimming coach invited me to swim with the high school boys team. The coach decided that I would be a distance swimmer and focus on the 400 yard freestyle. I practiced both before and after school, swimming about four hours each day from October until March.

The practices were rigorous and difficult. Coach would require that I swim 10 400-yard swims each evening with a five minute break between each one. On top of that, I was told that if I did not best a time of eight minutes, I would have to swim an additional 400 yards each time. If you do a little math, you could reason that I was swimming three or four miles every night.

It was only by gaining stamina and determination that I was able to succeed. The payoff was swimming in the state championship event most years. Learning to have stamina and determination has paid off in my adult life. As you all know, our work in health care, while enjoyable, is not always easy. Our days can be long and challenging. Without stamina and determination, they can be seemingly impossible.

I would invite each of you to gracefully grow your stamina so that you might gently handle difficult days that will come your way.

-Brad Hoffman