Underdogs and the Slow Work of God
2010-01-05
Underdogs and the Slow Work of God~

Two seemingly connected communications with colleagues recently have focused on what this season means to me this year. One came from a chat with a Jewish colleague. I asked her what Chanukah is really about. She wrote me, “Chanukah is a story about underdogs who benefited from miracles because they are driven by their faith.” A powerful definition.

You and I have made a commitment to serve the elderly – a cause that is at times not easy, and one that is often endured with inadequate resources. We fulfill this mission much better than the public appreciates. And we do so at the bedside, in the apartment or at the adult day center through people whom we often can’t compensate as well as we’d like. Some have tough personal circumstances of their own. Many of the people we serve, especially in our nursing homes, are in what former Vice President Hubert Humphrey once described as the “shadows of life.”

As I reflected on my Jewish colleague’s definition of Chanukah, I thought about how you and I are really involved in the lives of underdogs. Some of us have been, or are, underdogs ourselves. We know that society doesn’t want to talk about our cause, and it sometimes seems like policy makers try to avoid helping us. Underdogs. Yet, we see miracles. A response no one thought possible from an impaired elder. An employee, once on the brink of real trouble, who graduates from nursing school. The once homeless person in our program now with a job and dignity. The addict who continues to be sober and clean.

And we do this work, in part, because of our faith. Though people’s religious beliefs are hard to talk about these days, I have found that many of our colleagues – regardless of position – from CNA to CEO - do this work and are sustained in it because of a deep faith. So, your work story is the Chanukah story: the story of people, many of whom are underdogs, involved in miracles and sustained by faith.

Which gets me to my second communication. A mutual colleague is battling a complicated brain tumor. In and out of remission and reoccurrence. He updates his friends through his email newsletters. His attitude is remarkable. He reports a sense of peace, hope and trust underneath the uncertainty and discomfort of it all. He’s had a setback, and he wrote us a report that ended with a prayer from theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin entitled, “Patient Trust.” The opening line is this: “Above all, trust is the slow work of God.”

This prayer touched me. So, enjoy this season, knowing you help underdogs, who benefit from miracles that you help bring about because of your faith. And know that you are the essential hands and spirit of the slow work of God.



William L. Minnix, Jr.
AAHSA President & CEO