GoPraise Devotions

I was just thinking about ...

Sharing The Ride

This morning, I found myself in the waiting room of a hospital, fighting the sleepies. One on my parishioners was in there for an early surgical procedure. She had to be there at 6:00 am . And since the hospital is almost an hour away, that means getting up with the chickens so as to have time to make myself presentable. I got there a bit late, (went to the wrong hospital first, oops!) and she had already been taken back for prep work. I introduced myself to a couple of sisters-in-law and made myself comfortable as we waited for her to finish getting prepped for surgery.

They engaged me in conversation for a while, but as a new pastor, there are only so many topics you can talk about before being obviously at a loss for words. So I let them concentrate on their knitting while I pretended to be deep in thought. Actually, I was doing my best to stay awake without cursing Juan Valdez. (The 4 cups of coffee on the way over wasn’t doing the job!) Fearing I would start snoring, I started watching the people coming and going, there were more now. And I noticed they all had the same look on their faces … another day – another dollar.

In the midst of our concern and anxiety, here were health care workers routinely punching a clock. Little eye contact was made as they made their ways though the middle of us to the “Authorized Entry Only” doors. A few moments later, we might see them at a desk or coming out to invite patients in. After a moment of putting on their professional face, out of our view, a transformation took place. They were now alert, smiling and engaging. They were very purposeful in their actions and movements; a 180 degree turn from the previous persona.

It reminded me of the conference I just came from where we pastors were reminded we’re only human and we need to take private time to keep our health, sanity and portray a healthy vision of mission to our congregation. Too often, we won’t relax for fear someone will see us in the wrong clothes or in the wrong places or, God forbid, being less than reverent some of the time. But it’s not just the pastors who wear the professional face that hides who we really are. It’s all of us from time to time. We all have our times when we are the ones in charge; when others look to us for strength, help and hope.

In short, we’re all in the same boat, sharing the ride. We just take turns manning the oars.  It makes it a little easier to remember the humanness of others when we need help. There is only so much they can do. Their lives do not revolve around us and when it’s time for them to go home and we’re still there, they shouldn’t have to feel bad about leaving us behind. And we shouldn’t hope they feel bad for going home to some rest. And yes, this works for the bad days when someone screws up when helping us. Haven’t you ever had one of those days yourself? Don’t others deserve to have a fouled up day that’s beyond their control?

No one is perfect, not you nor I, and not the person helping you; even if it is their job to do so. It makes is a little easier to remember the words of Jesus when he said to treat others as you would have them treat you. It may not make you jump up and do handsprings, But it may help it be easier to deal with if you just gone through one of those times when someone let you down. You know, I’m willing to bet Jesus even had some of those days. Remember when the disciples couldn’t cast out the demons and Jesus had to do it himself. Look it up and read it sometimes. I can just see his face now, “Good heavens, guys, don’t you get it yet!?”