Spiritual wounds...

In CPE training we often talk about spiritual wounds.  When we visit patients, one of our responsibilities is to assess the spiritual needs of the patient. I learned this past week that the Memphis VA Medical Center is THE place for veterans to receive care due to spinal cord injury. There is a special wing dedicated to spinal cord injury patients.  The majority of the patients I've seen there are in the hospital for their annual check up.  Their general attitude is upbeat for the most part.  It is a bit different than other folks in the hospital who are most often there due to a medical crisis of some sort. 

These men (for I've only met men in this unit so far) are resilient. They really just want to get the tedious tests out of the way and get home. Sometimes they are requesting a new power wheelchair because theirs is worn out.  Based on my, admittedly very limited, experience, they have come to terms with their mobility challenges.

All of this is to say that spiritual wounds are often not about the obvious things. One gentleman was telling me that he and his wife were growing apart. Another was frustrated that they have been waiting on a consultation regarding surgery for several hours. Yet another was complaining about the hospital food. While people who use wheelchairs have a particular set of challenges, often their spiritual wound (if there is one) is no different than anyone else might have. 

Divorce, death of father or mother, estrangement from family and a myriad of other possibilities exist that can cause spiritual wounds. This is to say, at some point in our lives, we all will face an event or situation where our spirit can be wounded. Our job as chaplains is to consider whether this wounding is already healed or on the mend and, if not, is there anything we can do to support the patient in the process of healing. 

One of the hardest things for us, as students, is to realize when we're picking at a long healed wound and missing the important clues in front of us.  It's a challenge and one that all pastors face in their work of ministry.  Many people have deep wounds that they have long hidden from others and perhaps even themselves.  As a CPE student, chances are I will only see a patient once before they are discharged.  Do we do the patient a disservice when we dig deep with an inability to follow up?  Maybe, maybe not.  That is a situational call and one that cannot be taught, only learned by experience. 

I often come back to something I learned when working with people experiencing homelessness.  I am there in a ministry of presence. It is not my job to try to FIX anything. That's a hard lesson to learn.