My job is to support children, their families and the teams around them, when they are in a crisis, when they are dying. This means I often meet them at a point when death is imminent.
A while ago my nephew jokingly called me the angel of death, which I shrugged off a bit. The other week a colleague used this phrase saying 'I wasn't sure if it was time to call in the angel of death'.
As you can imagine - I don't like it. But is it true?
The answer is no. Firstly I'm not an angel. God created me to be a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:4-6). But most importantly - if I'm anything it's an angel of life, of light, of hope. I carry God's presence with me into the dark places. Somehow, by being in the place of death, God changes things. This may be by the human things He has gifted me with. I am good at my job, my skills in symptom management, my understanding of the death process, my ability to support parents and professionals as they care for a child who is dying, helps. But much more importantly I facilitate God's presence in that place. I stand and pray, calling all God's power and love to surround everyone there (knowing that He doesn't need my presence but HE has chosen to partner with me). And, whether or not the people there are aware of it, I believe this changes everything.
It's not an easy place to stand, and I'll never like the tag line as above, but as long as He wants me there I will be.
As you can imagine - I don't like it. But is it true?
The answer is no. Firstly I'm not an angel. God created me to be a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:4-6). But most importantly - if I'm anything it's an angel of life, of light, of hope. I carry God's presence with me into the dark places. Somehow, by being in the place of death, God changes things. This may be by the human things He has gifted me with. I am good at my job, my skills in symptom management, my understanding of the death process, my ability to support parents and professionals as they care for a child who is dying, helps. But much more importantly I facilitate God's presence in that place. I stand and pray, calling all God's power and love to surround everyone there (knowing that He doesn't need my presence but HE has chosen to partner with me). And, whether or not the people there are aware of it, I believe this changes everything.
It's not an easy place to stand, and I'll never like the tag line as above, but as long as He wants me there I will be.
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