When It Is Somebody You Love
I am typing these words as I sit with Donna during the day following her second knee replacement surgery. Our first experience with this was about nine months ago.
The doctor told us that no two surgeries or recoveries are exactly the same. So far, the events have proven him to be exactly correct. While the procedure was the same (except for two different knees), the surgeon was the same, and the hospital was the same, this experience is very different from the first one. So far, Donna seems to be having more difficulty getting “back on her feet” – both literally and figuratively.
I’ve spent part of today thinking about some “life lessons” about all of this. Even at my age, I’m still trying to learn some of them. I don’t think I’ll ever graduate from “life lesson school,” regardless of my age. At least, I hope not.
I’ve seen nurses and others come in and out of the room off and on all night and today. Some of those visits were “according to the treatment plan.” Others were because additional help was needed. At times, that help was needed fairly quickly.
I’m not sure I have the words to express how much I appreciate the help she has received. While the quality of the help has been determined by the provider, each person has been kind. It is my opinion that each person did the best that he or she could. They have done a lot for her and I sincerely appreciate it.
There was, however, one thing that none of these people can do. They cannot love “the patient” as much as I love my wife.
There’s the life lesson!
I need to try really hard to remember that every person with whom I come into contact in any way is a person who is loved by somebody. The interaction may be brief. It may happen only occasionally. The interaction could be with somebody with whom I have some sort of “professional relationship.” It could be that I see the person or people on a regular basis. The possibilities are almost endless.
The bottom line is that everybody I see is a person who is loved. Since that is the case, I need to treat them with as much dignity, respect, consideration, and love as I possibly can.
I can almost hear a possible question about this. I can “hear” people saying (or at least thinking), “What about people who, from all appearances, are loved by nobody. They seem to be forgotten and/or abandoned by members of society and any family members they may have.”
As it turns out, I have a suggestion concerning those people. The suggestion stems from the fact that every person is, indeed, loved. When we read that “…God so loved the world…” (John 3:16), that statement was all inclusive. Nobody is left out. You probably remember that this love was what caused Him to give.
That action and the motivation behind it was not then, nor is it now, appreciated universally. That did not keep God from doing all He could for all of us.
I’m thinking that Donna’s surgery and hospital stay could be God’s way of slowing me down long enough to learn what I think is a very important life lesson. I hope that I will try harder to love like God loves. I’m sure that I haven’t been very good at that at times.
If I can learn and apply this life lesson, that might mean that I would be the only person who demonstrates love for another individual. I might be the only person who brings a little sunshine into an otherwise dreary existence.
I’m certainly not there yet. I may never totally get there. What I can do is keep trying for as long as I live to be there.
I can think of a lot worse ways to spend whatever time I have left to live.
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
