Daniel Albrant

How would you define the word “serenity”? Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines it as “a state of utter calm and unruffled repose or quietude”. I’ve always had the ability to remain unruffled in many challenging situations. It was what gave me the ability to function in the ICU and Emergency Department environment without losing my cool or my mind. I’m not sure that I would have called myself serene when I was in the middle of the chaos and mayhem that often accompanied a shift in those environments, but I was able to block out the noise and emotion and find a way to focus on what needed to be done.

Anyone who knows me understands that I’m a fairly Type-A, driven individual. It has always been how I am wired and I have done well in my careers because of that way of functioning. However, that way of functioning has also led to symptoms of burnout and to an understanding that I can’t just go full throttle all the time without some rest and relaxation. Working too much in a high stress ICU environment helped me to understand my need for a different narrative that could heal the psychological wounds I was carrying from all the injuries and deaths I witnessed.

During my first career as a clinical pharmacist, I had the opportunity to work with a large number of physicians, nurses and other health professionals. Some of these folks were tremendous professionals and people, from whom I learned a great deal. I have always had a special affinity for surgeons, though they can be some of the prickliest and most challenging people God ever placed on earth! Part of this demeanor is that it takes a lot of chutzpah to cut open a living human body, mess about inside it for a while, and then sew everything back up again – kinda like nothing ever happened.

The world is always changing. Each day dawns a new 24-hour period which is different than all the days before, and different from all the days afterward. Weather changes, we age, our health changes (usually in small but measurable ways), our skin sloughs off (at least every 28 days), our hair turns grey and/or thins, our “to-do” list changes with things accomplished crossed off and new things added, the amount of daylight changes and hopefully our knowledge base changes through us getting a bit smarter about life. It’s why I don’t understand someone who looks at me with all seriousness and says, “Nothing ever changes!” or “She is never going to change!” The truth of the matter, as I have detailed above, is that everything changes all the time. Even people change – sometimes not quickly enough or in the way that we might prefer, but people do change. In fact, it is the basis for the belief in a God who can help us to change by loving us into something new and better. Think of how despondent we would feel if we really lived a life in a world that never changed. I can’t imagine anything more awful than that – in fact, I believe that would be one of my definitions of hell.

This week I was helping one of our sons obtain some prescription eyeglasses. I have worn eyeglasses constantly for about 40 years, so I know my way around the optician’s office.

Think back to when you were first taught about money…what do you remember? For me it was learning how to save money. I would get money as birthday gifts, tooth fairy leavings, an allowance, odd jobs for people. Mom and dad would ask that we give 10% to the church and then put the rest in the bank in a savings account. I can remember pulling up to the bank with the old pneumatic tube system and putting my money and my passbook into the tube and watching it whisk away like magic. My passbook would return with not only the new deposit added, but the new total in my savings account! It was a feeling of pride to know that I had money in the bank that I could use for things that I wanted (i.e., a bike, a puppy, a new baseball glove, etc).

Ihave always loved a good tall tale, myth, fairy tale, or other metaphorical teaching story. From my earliest childhood I was captivated by Hans Christian Andersen, Aesop, Thorton W. Burgess, The Brothers Grimm, J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkien, George R. R. Martin, etc, and their power to weave a captivating story that had a deep human truth or truths embedded in them. Stories of hero journeys and fanciful monsters, overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles, returning home wiser and more competent gave me hope in some challenging times in my life.

It doesn’t take too long in our lives before the first time we are wronged by another person. Maybe we’re not chosen when picking sides for kickball, maybe the teacher makes an example of us for things others were doing, maybe we’re not chosen for a job advancement because we’re not as well connected politically as another candidate, maybe our girlfriend or boyfriend dumps us for someone else. No matter what the cause, in our hurt we can often want to “get even” with the person who wronged us. Revenge is a normal human reaction to being hurt by another and contemplating how we are going to get even distracts us from our woundedness.

When I design worship services, I plan for all of the parts to amplify the theme for the day. The one wild card each week is the children’s time, what we like to call “young disciples’ time” at one of my churches.