All For One and One For All
As I write this article, I’m sitting in “Miss Dodie’s” hospital room. It is now 10:30 AM, and we’ve been waiting since 7:00 AM for the four wheeled monster to come and haul her away. Almost everyone hates waiting…but waiting for surgery is the pits.
Ever since 6:30 AM the room has been buzzing. Friends, family and Church family have been in and out of the room. Before one conversation was finished another was started. It seemed that in the middle of each, the phone would ring and someone else would be saying, “I love you. We are praying for you. Get well soon!”
Dodie may have been miserable with the wait, but she never had to wonder if she was loved. The fullness of the room, the frequency of the phone calls and the beautiful display of the flowers testified in unison of our love for her.
All of our aches and pains were suddenly unimportant. Whether we got our work done for the day was of no concern. If the rain outside turned to a flood, nobody cared. The only thing that mattered at the moment was how “Miss Dodie” was doing and how the doctors were going to deal with her heart.
At this moment everyone but me is at the coffee pot. Some are talking deer hunting, some are talking quilting, some are praying and some are silent, but the thing that is most important is that we are all supporting Miss Dodie.
There is an openness among everyone. Those who are usually quiet now break through the silence to utter a few meager words of concern. Everyone is watching, everyone is waiting. Everyone has high hopes, and great expectations, yet overshadowed by a little fear.
One of the greatest lessons a Church could ever learn could be learned in a hospital room with someone they dearly love facing surgery. All of a sudden the definition of major and minor surgery changes. Major surgery is now one that happens to someone you love. Minor surgery is one that happens to someone else. Wouldn’t it be great if we could walk into an assembly of God’s people and feel the same concern for each other as we do in a hospital room with someone facing surgery? Wouldn’t it be grand if we cared that much for one another?
It may be that some of our “Orthodox Views” prevent much of that. But I guarantee you this, if we could learn to love each other as much as we love “Miss Dodie”, we would have no problem feeling the same for everyone.
In this room today it is “One for all, and All for One”. Maybe, just maybe, I will come to church Sunday feeling the same about you. Maybe if you would feel the same, things would change immediately. Remember; Heart surgery is scheduled for all of us SUNDAY! I love you!