But I'm Not The Only One

Hello. It’s Monday!

There was a show on TV when I was a kid called Romper Room. I have no idea what the content was, but I remember vividly the end where the host held up a big circle called the Magic Mirror and started naming names.

I see Bobbie and Susie and Frank and Carol.

She would name a bunch of imaginary people in the television audience.

I remember this because every time I watched I waited, with great hope and anticipation, to hear her say I see Melissa.

It never happened. Not once did I hear my name spoken through the mirror. Eventually, of course, I outgrew the show. Or maybe it stopped airing, but I never heard her say my name. And it remains, to this day —clearly—one of the disappointments of my childhood.

As many of you know I am working on a project right now, starting a start-up, dreaming a dream, trying to solve a problem. The project is called SAM, and you can read about it HERE.

The problem I am trying to solve is that our seniors do not have enough access to spiritual care.

The issues we face at the later stage of life are existential issues: loss of a spouse or parter: grief; lack of meaning; loneliness and isolation; displacement from community or a beloved home; illness; end of life.

Certainly there could be mental health issues woven into all of these situations, but by and large these are spiritual issues. I define ‘spiritual’ as having to do with connectedness to others, to a Greater Source and to nature.

A human is body, mind and soul, and when we neglect one part of our being, the enterprise is out of whack. Most of us neglect the spiritual side because it’s so often associated with religion. But spirituality is not about religion, it’s about the inner life of a human. It’s about meaning and purpose and connection.

This is often the domain of a chaplain, and we have chaplains in many areas of life: prisons, universities, the military, hospitals and hospice. But we do not have chaplains in senior communities, at least not very often, and that is a problem I’m going to solve.

In the decades I’ve been making visits to senior communities and nursing care facilities, I have witnessed too many humans suffering from a lack of connection. We have become very good at keeping people alive longer, but we are not addressing quality of life. And that is a problem I am going to solve.

The idea arrived in my life in late January and since then it has taken on an energy of its own. Any time there was a moment when I thought I can’t do this or I don’t have the technical expertise, someone has arrived to help.

It reminds me of when I was giving birth to Nate twenty-seven years ago. Mid-delivery I was ready to give up. I wanted the drugs and whatever the easy way out was. I can’t do this! I yelled. My midwife, Gwen, leaned over and whispered into my ear, You have no choice, get busy.

Gwen was so amazing. And Nate made it into the world, thank goodness.

That’s how it feels to caretake this project. I feel like a midwife, bringing something important into the world.

But I am not, not by a long stretch, doing this alone.

I want to take a moment now, just three months into things, to acknowledge everyone who has helped in any way so far. Today I’m holding up the Magic Mirror to all of the people who are midwife-ing this thing with me. Some simply said I love this idea, how can I help? Some have asked important questions. Some have listened to me talk at length about SAM. Some are offering technical guidance. Everyone has helped me by caring. It’s everything.

When I name these names please listen carefully for the gentle whoosh of the world drawing this idea into existence. And know that this is how an idea is born.

Michael
Angela
Mason
Dede
Anne
Sam
Mišel
Nate
Gretta
Coco
Sverre
Ginny
Katie
Jane
Pete
Steve
Paul
Ben
MaryLou
Lauren
Gail
Amber
Polly
Tom
Isabel
Austin
Angie
Diane
Donna
Rita
Margaret M.
Margaret B.
Holly
Brent
Susan
Sarah
Heather
Susan M.
Kelly
Terri
Jane
Bill
David E.
David F.
Marietta
Karen

My apologies to the Melissas out there whom I have neglected to name.

I made this list to show you that nothing happens in isolation in this life. We are here to be of service to this world and to improve things as we go. There is not a snowball’s chance in hell that I could do this by myself. The fact that a community of kind humans has organically grown up around the SAM project is as delightful and wonderful to me as the project itself. The entire process has been one of joyful revelation.

In spite of my ten-year tenure as a pastor, I’m not one to quote biblical passages, but in this case there is one that is entirely applicable, and, as it turns out, was always my favorite:

Jeremiah 29:7: But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

My modern wording would say: make sure the place where you live is doing OK, because if the community is OK, then you will be OK.

Or, we are all inextricably bound to one another; when you care about your fellow humans, then everyone benefits.

There are forty-six names on my list of fellow humans who care about helping our senior population live a better life. And that’s only in the idea’s first 3.5 months of existence. Imagine where this is going … imagine … You may say I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will be as one.

Thank you for being a reader.
Please take good care of each other out there today.
xo,mo