A hospice chaplain shares what dying taught her about living

Working as a hospice chaplain, Kerry Egan quickly learned her job was more about listening than talking.

She was prepared to talk about God, but she found the dying rarely wanted that. She found that cliche messages of support never landed.

Just like this one: "God never gives you more than you can handle."

"That's not true," Egan told MPR News host Kerri Miller. "Some people have more than they can handle."

In her new book, "On Living," Egan shares what she learned sitting at the bedsides of dying patients. She describes the "spiritual working of dying" — how people found peace in their own life stories.

But what she learned the most about was living: what had made people proud or content or even guilty. Their stories transformed her as she listened, and she shares those insights in "On Living."

For the full interview with Kerry Egan on "On Living," use the audio player above.