Right to Life

While our politicians square off about the right to life and the HHS mandate, I want to square off at the right to quality of life. Quality of life is a term used mostly in Psyciatric and Geriatric circles.

I would argue that hospice and homelessness fall into similar catagories. In both there is only the hope of further illness and death.

Those of us who find ourselves in luckier circumstance might consider quality of life an issue to be tackled as well as its right.

Everything and nothing changes

I see the sun coming up. I'm thinking of the warmer, less strenuous, days for the homeless. But their plight does not go away with the snow. They will still be in the shadows, hidden from our sight by our city planners and legislators.

Only we, as individuals, can know and help "the poor". They have names like "Mike" and "Larry". And faces like any other person living life with the hand that is dealt them.

This Lent I want to give change to the poor. And the change will be in me.

Change for a Dollar

From one of my dear Facebook friends... reminding me that it takes so little to do so much.

The Face of Poverty In The US.

15 percent of Americans live in poverty, the highest of any industrialized nation in the world.

How can we say it is not our problem? Christians how can we say, "The Lord bless you." and not give a blanket, a couch, or a damn?

End Of Life Planning

End of Life Planning.  It is never too early to plan for your final days.  We can help!  Inclusive Life will help you create a legal document outlining how you will be cared for in your final days.  Creating this document will give you peace of mind today, that you will be caring for your loved ones, family and friends when they need it the most.

Visit www.inclusivelife.org to learn more.

Chaplain Royal Bush and Chaplain Beth Loofe are Interfaith Chaplains offering nondenominational and nonreligious care and services to all, without exception in Nebraska and Iowa. They conduct Weddings, Premarital Coaching, Couples Coaching,Funerals, End of Life Planning, and Pastoral Care. For more information please email info@inclusivelife.org OR phone 402-575-7006. Omaha Weddings, Omaha Counseling, Omaha Funerals.

Hills and Hurdles

Nelson Mandela once said “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” Hills, mountains, hurdles, valleys, rivers, they all can seem overwhelming when we are trying to travel through life don’t they?  Heck, there are times, for me, just getting out of bed with a smile on my face seem like a miracle!

Ok, I get it.  Life is good, sometimes.  Life can really be a challenge, sometimes.  Life can really suck, sometimes.  What I have come to know about my life is that it is, what it is.  It is what I make it.  It is what I let it be.  It is what I accept it to be.  I think that there have been some ah-ha moments in my life that really had more to do more with God, spirituality and the cosmic universe I accept.  They were not situations or points that I had planned, but being at the right place at the right time allowed me the benefit (oh it is so easy to use that word now) from the lesson of that moment. 

Oh sure, don’t get me wrong, I was CERTAINLY causing, kicking and screaming at the time; why me, if you only get me out of this I will…, please please please get me out of this, I can’t believe YOU did this to ME!  At the end of the day, I had to put my pants of responsibility on and accept that Royal (and only Royal) was responsible for his actions and as such wake up, pay attention and learn!

The two most important things in my life is my faith and relationship with what I know to be sacred, and my family (both given and chosen), they both keep me grounded, on track and happy (FULL!)  Just when things are coasting along so well, it seems that you have life by the tail then another mountain, hill, hurdle, river, valley or… appears.

It is easy to go back to the why me, if you get me out of this I will…  But you know, I got this.  My faith, my experience and my family, I got this.  And you know what?  It does get better. 

I turned 44 this week.  Someone asked me if I felt older, I said nope.  Someone else asked me what I have learned in 44 years.  I know that you never are the “full package” (meaning you are not can not and will not be ALL things to all people, let alone to yourself.)  Accept your gifts as given you and celebrate them, share them, embrace them and for God sakes, USE THEM!

I can be the change that I seek in this world.  One day, one journey, one person, one hurdle, one hill at a time!  Peace, Love and Health for us all!

Chaplain Royal Bush and Chaplain Beth Loofe are Interfaith Chaplains offering nondenominational and nonreligious care and services to all, without exception in Nebraska and Iowa. They conduct Weddings, Premarital Coaching, Couples Coaching,Funerals, End of Life Planning, and Pastoral Care. For more information please email info@inclusivelife.org OR phone 402-575-7006. Omaha Weddings, Omaha Counseling, Omaha Funerals.

Words and thoughts

A friend told me Bob was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Bob was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Bob was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made my friend curious, so one day he went up to Bob and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” Bob replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Bob, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested. “Yes it is,” Bob said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.”

My friend reflected on what Bob said. Soon thereafter, he left the restaurant industry to start his own business. They lost touch, but he often thought about him when he made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, he heard that Bob did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Bob was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Bob was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Bob about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins, wanna see my scars?” My friend declined to see the wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Bob replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”

“Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” he asked. Bob continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.”

“What did you do?” my friend asked. “Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Bob. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply… I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”

Bob lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

We do have choices and have a direct impact on how are day will be, how we will impact others too! The words we use each day have the capacity to do many things.

The can hurt, heal, motivate, tear down, rip, build, share love, spread gossip, promote hate and… Words can help others feel included or make them feel more isolated. They have the power to bring calm or to spread panic. They have the power to bless others or to curse them. They have the power to share good news or to remove hope. They can share thanks or complain.

Some questions for you to consider…

How do you, use words?

What words do you use?

Do your words build up, or tear down?

Are they encouraging or negative?

In your darkest hour, if your words were used against you would they help you see light, or remain in darkness?

Chaplain Royal Bush and Chaplain Beth Loofe are Interfaith Chaplains offering nondenominational and nonreligious care and services to all, without exception in Nebraska and Iowa. They conduct Weddings, Premarital Coaching, Couples Coaching,Funerals, End of Life Planning, and Pastoral Care. For more information please email info@inclusivelife.org OR phone 402-575-7006.