We are the Body

I was wheeled through the hospital twice this year with empty arms.

In September a woman who bore a striking resemblance to the maid on The Jeffersons (what was her name?) was my escort. She apparently knew my situation, or was smart enough to figure it out since I was on the maternity floor and leaving without the baby, and she very quietly spoke to me from my bed to our car about Jesus. She told me that I didn't have any pain that He couldn't bear. She told me to give my grief to Him and that in His arms I would find rest. I was so completely out of my mind with grief (and narcotics, I won't lie) that I never responded to anything that she said. But I will never forget it... her boldness, her witness, her grabbed opportunity. I know this is a woman who wakes each day and asks God for discernment in speaking His truth.

In March, the second time, an old man and a young girl trainee came to get me. As I was pushed through the hospital like a bad rerun of a movie you never want to watch again, she tried to chat me up and asked me "How are you today?" If there is any type of training seminar to work this job in the hospital, in it should be the instruction to never ask anyone this question.

Then, with the awkward silence that followed as I pretended to not be present, the old man starting giving her some on-the-job training. "Usually when you pick up people from that floor they are mothers with babies. You'll need to get a trolley in order to carry all the baby things. The mom will hold the infant in her lap, usually in a car seat." And on and on and on. It was the longest five minutes of my life. The last thing I wanted to do was to fall apart in front of these people (and again I say, thank you God for drugs).

My point is this. Every day we have the opportunity to be Jesus for somebody. Some days it may be small- maybe just a smile to some stranger having a bad morning. Some days it may be huge. I wonder how many times I have failed when the opportunity was right in front of me. I know I don't have a job like that hospital worker, but that's no excuse to not see the situations at the end of my nose. And let me least of all be sensitive and open to understanding the needs of others. People tell you a lot without ever opening their mouths. Let me hear what they are saying.