Remember the Families

“As you sent me into the world, so have I sent them into the world” (John 17:18, ESV).

When Randle came in as a patient today, I greeted him and noticed that his wife had redone her hair. Why I noticed, I have no idea; but I told her I liked the way her hair looked and she smiled, a big smile.
I then took care of Randle’s needs and handed him his prescription. As they were leaving, his wife came up to me and held out her hand, offering, “I just want to tell you that we love you and are praying for you.”
I suspect her kindness was as much for my comment about her hair as it was about my care for her husband.

As healthcare professionals, we tend to be a very focused bunch of people. All our lives, we target goals and focus on achieving them, such that a character of focus has become part of our nature. This happens with our patients and with our Christian witness as well. The truth is: the people who are touched by our presence may be a much larger group than those upon whom we focus.
Take our patient families, for example. We often, in our rush to complete our task, accept them as casually important, sometimes pleasant and sometimes annoying additions to our patient visits. And yet, in God’s eyes they may be the very reason for our time with the patient. Our work focus may be concentrated on the patient, whereas God’s “divine appointment” may be with that wife or daughter or mother or son.
This carries over to all spheres of our lives. The purpose of our presence among a group of people, in God’s plan, may be the persons on the fringes of our focus.
Therefore, in all circumstances, I need to look beyond my preferred focus and become more aware of all people whom God has placed within my presence—become more aware and connect in love, so that I might open a channel for God’s blessings into their lives.

Dear God,
Give me discernment. Help me to notice with love all you would have me touch for you.
Amen