We Each Live in Our Own World

I was asleep in the room on a recliner.  Actually this was a recliner that unfolded.  It was quite comfortable and I was sleeping soundly.  Sometime in the middle of the night, a woman slipped into the room.  I sensed someone was walking by me and raised my head to see what was happening.  She whispered in broken English as she walked by, "It’s OK, I will just be a moment."

In the bed across the room lay my 81 year old mother.  She had hip replacement surgery this past week at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas.  This nurse was entering the room in the night to check on her. 

Many of you have been there.  You’ve had a medical crisis.  You or your family members have been through surgeries. Maybe you’ve been in the hospital or perhaps you have been with someone else who has.  It is a different world.  Last week, I was immersed in that world.  I came away so thankful for the following people:

• Wonderful nurses like Molly, Cindy, Scott, and so many others on the 6th floor of the Truett Building at Baylor Medical Center.
• Tech people who served in so many practical and helpful ways.
• The Physical Therapy people.  Stan the PT who was patient and skillful.  Barry, who told my mother that he liked her spunk and got her to laugh.
• The "blood guy" (who referred to himself as "Quick Draw") who came in the middle of the night and managed to get a sample of blood quickly and without pain.
• Vonda, the social worker, who was so helpful in finding a rehab facility and taking care of many details related to locating the facility.
• Jessie Stroup who visited my mother on several occasions.  I’m thankful for the surprise of seeing Jessie get off the elevator onto the 6th floor.  He is a long time friend who I had not seen one another in many years.  He is now a chaplain for Baylor and Parkland Hospitals.

I say all of this not as news or having some great insight.  No, I mention this because many people do similar work and often receive little recognition or appreciation.

You may have a job like that.  You may go to work, day after day, feeling ignored and unappreciated.  Yet, God knows.  God sees how you work with integrity and care.  That really does matter.