Yesterday my ego got the better of me.  A hospice patients’ husband resumed his tirade of yelling at me for a situation I cannot control.  He has a habit of spewing his anger on anyone, so I wasn’t specifically targeted, but alas my ego was bruised.  My line of work is emotionally intense on any given day and often my human self gets tired of the demands, my Soul knows better.  At one point in his tirade I asked him quite calmly to just stop, he looked at me with disgust as if I was not a worthy adversary and became quiet. When I finished my visit I sat in my car and tried to let it all go, my ego was having none of it, it wanted validation that I didn’t deserve this behavior, I was bringing my heart into a situation trying to help- it reasoned, my Soul knew better- I was learning a Lesson…

Fast forward to a cup of tea and the news, which I don’t often watch, but tonight I was compelled to turn on PBS NewsHour.  There was a segment on a woman, she was the child in the photograph from the Vietnam war that was running down the street naked and burnt from the napalm the USA had dropped on her.

She became an icon. She is a person.

She has endured humiliation, suffering and pain.  Seventeen surgeries and a lifetime of pain.  She spoke of finding the New Testament in the library and turning to Christianity.  She said it helped her.  She began to pray for her “enemies”. She learned about FORGIVENESS and LOVE. She works with children. She walks the walk; she has embraced the teachings of Christ and is living them.  This woman who was violated as a child, her clothes and skin stripped from her, healed herself by applying Spiritual Tools. At the end of the segment She smiled.

My ego was humbled. My Soul smiled. Intellectually I know we cannot control how people behave but now my heart knew it too.  I let the days’ lesson go, quietly I prayed for him, for the woman on the news and myself. I forgive him and send him love but more importantly I forgive myself for forgetting. Ever grateful for the Spiritual Tools I have and the reminder from Spirit to use them daily.