The author draws on her experience serving thousands of ill and dying clients. She explains how this sometimes difficult work offers not just the fulfilment of giving comfort to people who need it, but also moments of breath taking wonder.

She writes of the hard lessons caregivers learn about themselves, while at the same time knowing the humbling sense of being used in the service of God's love. Swetnam invites those who care for the sick and dying to stay awake to the sacred implications of their labours.