One of the metrics used in hospitals to measure the impact of spiritual care is patient-reported outcomes. Patients are invited to share about their satisfaction with a chaplain visit, the perceived helpfulness of spiritual and emotional support, whether they felt heard, respected, and understood, and whether they would request a chaplain again based on that experience.

It is remarkable to witness how spiritual care transforms lives even in situations that appear seemingly uncomplicated and straightforward, leaving a profound impact on patients’ experience. Often, this becomes most visible when observed from the outside.

Last week, I found myself on the other side of the clinical encounter. I was a patient in one of our local clinics, feeling quite ill. After checking in, I was directed to a waiting room filled with other patients. Some looked much like me. Others appeared even sicker. What struck me was this: everyone carried the same sense of urgency.

Whether someone had come in with a life-threatening cardiac concern, the flu, or a fractured pinky, each person experienced their own pain as acute. Each person felt that what they were carrying mattered.

That moment reminded me of something essential about our ministry as chaplains. When we acknowledge people, validate their feelings, and affirm their experience, we quietly communicate: I see you. Your pain is real. You matter.

In a suffering world marked by political turmoil, conflict and war, economic instability, social injustice, and threats to human right, dignity and freedom, we often feel pressured to minimize and deflect our own struggles. “Who cares about our small stuff?” we convince ourselves. “There are bigger things going on around us.” We tell ourselves, “I should not bother God with trivial things. There are bigger problems in the world.”

Yet before God, no pain is trivial.

Every wound matters.
Every tear matters.
Every aching heart matters.

If we learn to notice and attend to what seems small, we are being trained to face what is great. Scripture reminds us that God counts even the hairs of our head. Not because God is preoccupied with micromanagement, but because nothing about us is insignificant in His sight. (Luke 12:7)

May we never dismiss the small pains in ourselves or in others. And may we continue to offer a presence that says: Your pain matters.

matters.