The next 3 days that we were in the acute care wing of the hospital were busy and quiet days. Busy with physical therapy and resting. Lots of walking the halls and getting my husbands strength and balance back. Lots of naps from all the walking that exhausted my husband. Oh eating too. Getting back on solids again and giving his body fuel to burn. A good bye to our good nurse friend who was going off shift and then on vacation for two weeks. We didn't plan on being there when she got back. She didn't look forward to seeing us there either. Her trusted assistant and our friend was still there and made sure to visit a little bit each time he came to the room.
Looking back on our days there I wondered why I encountered the people I did. A mother that I happened to ride in the elevator with one morning spoke to me. She told me all about her daughter who had just had a pretty serious surgery. That it was really hard for her daughter right now and her as well. I let her talk. After she finished I shared that I understood how difficult things could be. She told me she knew I did because we were both with our loved ones on the same floor. I then told her our only option right now is to be strong. To dig deep and find our strength from the depths of ourselves because that is what we needed right now as well as our loved ones. She affirmed that and thanked me for saying it. It was exactly what she needed hear.
As I look back and go over my encounters and the events I realize none of it had anything to do with me personally. I was only a vessel. How things were handled, the quiet strength that others claimed they felt while in the company of myself and my husband, the encouraging words shared with strangers who were there doing the same thing I was.......it was all grace. Grace that had been prepared for me and given to me in perfect time. I had only to recognize it. Once I did, it didn't matter that I was speaking encouraging words even though I was going through my own challenges, or offering quiet strength for others to feel while I felt like I was running low because amidst those demands I had the quiet flutterings of reassurance, gentle grace and strength laid at my feet as my foundation to grow on. I just had to see it. I knew it now. I had to allow Grace to Unfold.
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