Someone apparently stole two geraniums from my flower bed this week, leaving a gaping hole. I don’t think it was an animal, since no traces were left. And the sad thing is, I’m sure they died.
That’s my street. But honestly, it’s at the hospital where vice seems so often to be in vogue.
“We’ve had these pathological liars lately,” my friend the cardiology nurse sighed as we met in the hall at the top of the stairwell and had a few precious moments of powwow to encourage each other.
We get overwhelmed by all this sometimes. Between five cardiologists and two heart surgeons and their patients, it’s easy for us to feel like we’ve seen it all. And by all, we mean mostly bad. The man who hasn’t spoken to his brother in 25 years. The woman who won’t let the doctor help her and keeps contradicting and accusing him. Egos and accusations. Stressed out people and raised voices.
It makes me turn to my verses hiding on the second sheet of my binder. I always try to keep a verse underneath, ready to yank out in troubling moments. The ones I had chosen for this week rang in my ears:
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down! No eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:1,4 ESV
Come, oh God! Do something!
Yet, when I think over the week, I’m surprised by how many good things I can remember.
The first person I think of is a lady who suddenly became very ill. She was a sweet lady who called me by name. Hi Katrina! When I came in the morning after the event it was my first question. Is she still alive? But not only was she alive, when I went to see her she was her calm, comfortable self calling people by name. “Good morning Katrina!”
The second person I think of is an elderly man who had a rough recovery from surgery. He finally got better and was ready to be transported to another facility for continued rehab.
“I’d like to come visit you while you’re there,” I said.
“Well, you’re welcome to do that,” he said in his gravelly stubborn voice that we had been afraid we would never hear again.
The third person was a word-lover like myself who found out he needed heart surgery while on vacation. While he was waiting in pre-op to be taken back to the operating room, he began composing poetry in his head. When he woke up, he remembered it and told it to us.
I was one bacon cheeseburger away from paradise.
Didn’t listen to my doctor’s advice.
And now my heart is paying the price.
I was one bacon cheeseburger away from paradise.
His wife was great too, a nurse from out of state. As much as I can relate to nurses, they can be bad people to have as patient family members because often they’re pushy and know too much. And this woman had even worked in heart surgery.
But she understood this problem.
“Nothing as dreadful as a room full of nurses!” she said cheerfully. But she was nothing but a great support.
And now that I’ve started, more people come to mind…. I don’t have room for them all, but one woman who at first refused to have surgery came back to see us this week. She had literally fled the hospital against medical advice, then came back when her medical issues flared up, and finally consented to heart surgery.
But she looked great this week and was so happy to see Dr. Dickson.
“You look good,” he said.
“I’m doing good,” she said proudly.
Yes, the world is full of bad things, bad motivations, bad actions, bad responses, and bad people who are ungrateful and malicious.
My nurse friend and I see these cases all the time. But as we talked at the top of the stair well, I thought of another piece of my verse.
“You want to hear a piece of my verse for the week?” I asked her, flipping the top page off my binder. Like a good friend, she listens.
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. Isaiah 64:6
We are all bad people! That is the truth according to Scripture! Even this beautiful nurse friend of mine who handles things with grace, smiles, encourages me…AND doesn’t overeat?
Yes!
“Even our righteous deeds… Our best actions cannot measure up!” I said. “That’s why Christ came!”
And she agreed.
“We are forgiven! So often I think of that when I come home from church,” she said. “But we forget that and criticize others!”
And there at the top of the stairs, we felt refreshed by the beautiful words of Scripture. Why I don’t turn to it more I don’t know. It never fails!
We both needed to get busy, and as we turned away, we both started talking at once.
“I’m so glad I have you,” I said.
“It’s good we have each other,” she said at the same time.
And we walked away, peaceful, bad people who have been forgiven.
And my geranium row may be crippled. But look what I found on my vine that I was afraid would not get pollinated?
It did, and one more miracle of God’s goodness is right here under my porch.