I’m not sure how many of you, like me, listen with interest to the Changing Tracks stories on a Friday afternoon on 774. In it, listeners write about a moment that links to a particular song and represents when their direction in life changed. Last week I was moved to tears listening to the story of a woman who wrote about her husband’s sudden trip to hospital after having a life-threatening bleed to the brain. She continued by reflecting on the gift of a functioning medical system;

"But that (her husband’s condition) is not the worst Melbourne. The worst would have been no ambulances available for two trips, no CT scans, no specialist and highly trained medical staff or no ICU beds available due to COVID. That would have been our worst. Whilst Melbourne’s soul is its cafes, clubs, galleries, parks and sporting events. Our hospitals are its beating heart. So, Melbournians, I want to say thank you for wearing your masks. For listening to Dan and all the health care advice. For socially distancing when it is all so hard. Thank you for postponing your wedding and not hugging your loved ones. For not playing sport and closing your businesses. Thank you for your sacrifices. Thank you for keeping our health care system alive, so it could keep my husband alive. So wear your mask and do the right thing. It’s not just the old, the frail and people you don’t know you are protecting. You are protecting yourself."

It reminded me again of the bigger picture, that can sometimes be lost as I sit at home working day after day, my world so dramatically smaller than when we are all together in a busy, functioning, student filled school. 

The song she chose was Powderfinger’s ‘These Days’, – I’ve never heard the lyrics of that song with quite that clarity as I did last Friday. 

So, as we adapt to the demands and requirements of us, let us remember in our thoughts and prayers our hospitals and the many thousands of individuals who are caring for those who are experiencing the worst of this pandemic. Below is an extract of blessing for those in our community for whom this is their daily reality from Juliana Casey and published in Voices for the Journey. 

May rest find you, in the peaceful moments when all is still, 

In the quiet times when you pause, and breathe. 

May you find rest in the care of others, in the knowledge of your worth, 

In the value of your service. 

May the One who gives rest, bless you and hold you close. 

And may you, in your very being, be a place of rest for others. Amen 

Every blessing in the week ahead

Mrs Monique Riviere-Pendle

Chaplain