A Planetary Pilgrim learns to receive help, as well as give it

These days this pilgrim continues to look at life from a planetary perspective. This beautiful blue planet that we have been given belongs to all of us. We need to live as if we were all neighbours - planetary neighbours. David and I, and our entire family, have been  amazed at the support we have received as we move though the journey of my recent health challenge. It is so much easier to give support, isn't it? To cook a meal for someone, to visit a friend, to comfort a person who is suffering. I find that most of us find it much more difficult to receive help. To acknowledge that you are vulnerable, that you need care.


Life for this Planetary Pilgrim has been painful during the last couple of days. Sharp pain, out of the blue, not on the site of the incision, but in the soft tissues of my upper arm. It has been pretty constant in the past five days. A nurse at the hospital had warned me that most of the pain would feel like stinging or burning. It does burn and sting, and sometimes it takes my breath away. I understand that it is probably the nerves affected by the surgery trying to recover and to re-establish themselves. I don't know exactly what they are doing, but it is painful! 


I am trying to strike  balance between pain relief and pain tolerance. I don't want to be a hero, but I do want to keep this in a "planetary" perspective. I ask myself what can I do to relieve the pain, other than pop pills which I might need later for something else?


When the "phantom pain" is bad, I concentrate on friends, the many friends who have brought me their love and their hope, often wrapped in olives from Kalamata, cookies that look forward to Easter, pastries from the Polish store where we often enjoy coffee, bagels from the City Cafe. Other friends bring flowers - delightful orange and yellow bouquets that assure us that spring (with this year's crop of excellent dandelions!) is here. Some of the cards I have received have moved David and me to tears. Not sad tears. Tears of exultation!


A friend who knits brought me a prayer shawl. (Me! Imagine getting your own prayer shawl when you have taken so many to others) She stayed and had chicken soup with me - what a blessing that was, to be able to feed the wonderful care giver who had come to see me. She knows, you see, that there is blessing in receiving as well as in giving.


A dear niece sends me a brief meditation every day. A nephew and his friend came with his dog, and ate stir fry with us. We had a wonderful conversation about cancer. His dog Ben has cancer. 


My friend brought me a Rosary from Iraq, a Muslim rosary. A Muslim rosary has ninety nine beads. Did you know about the Muslim practice of reciting the ninety nine most Beautiul Names of God? The Beneficent, the Merciful, the One, the Creator, the Evolver, the Forgiver, the First, the Preexisting ...  I have given Muslim rosaries to many Muslim patients at the Hospital. Now, I have received one. Al Hamdulillah!


I want to share a song with you. It is called The Denial. The words were written in the twenties, but the song became very popular in the late sixties, when it was forbidden during the time of the Greek dictatorship. Imagine! To forbid signing! 


I hope you will look at the video. It is not too long. It will be the next entry in this blog. And just look at the face of the singer, when the entire audience starts to sing with him. There are moments when he stops singing, and the audience carries him along with their music. His face registers surprise and then delight, as he surrenders to their signing. So, how do I feel? I hurt, but how can I keep from singing?


And now, I must get going, but we will see each other around, surely, on the Way to Santiago.