My first few days I struggled with feeling as if I wasn’t being chaplainy enough. I would spend time with the patients, and quickly, I would learn if their children were wonderful, or if they provided a source of anxiety, I learned where they lived, what they did, and generally, whether I wanted to know it or not, their political views. I also learned, by observation or by blank statement what they needed from me. The question plagued me, though, Am I doing this right?

Serving as a chaplain is an oddly unique role: one foot in ministry, the other in the medical world; we’re pastors, but not clergy; we’re the people who when they ask you how you feel we aren’t asking exclusively about your IV port OR your spiritual life.

This is strange, not just for the chaplain, but for the patient as well.