An Easter Thought

It is Easter Sunday, and I have not yet done a post for this week. I will endeavor to put up a story in the next couple days, and I apologize for being occupied elsewhere this week. We got pounded all night Friday night at duty, mostly with the violent flu bug that has been striking people around here. So, I spent Saturday trying to recover, and not doing the things I had planned…like posting a blog. A friend who used to run with our department, and recently moved to an adjacent one to run with her new husband reminded me of my missing post tonight as I stopped by the station to say hello to my crews having Easter dinner. So, I will try to get two up this week if at all possible.

In the interim, as it is Easter a prayer is appropriate, and I will share one that I have (re)found recently. I have often said a quick, silent prayer before duty, even if it is just a “Dear God…don’t let me F it up tonight”. There are a few “EMS prayers” out there and they are good, but this one was written long before EMS, but it speaks to me and I think to our collective calling in EMS. It was written by St. Francis in the 13th Century, and I have thought of it often on the calls I have seen of late. It helps on nights when you are taking your 3rd or 4th “BS” flu run at 330am, and you have not seen any sleep.

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Happy Easter to you all, be safe, have fun.

Chris