The Case of the Hospital Orderly

All of us are gifted. All of us have something to offer. All of us can touch a life and be a blessing.

We often imagine that other people are gifted, other people can make a difference, but we doubt our own powers of blessing. It’s because we trust in bigness-as-greatness. If I can’t deliver the grand slam homer, I may as well not pick up the bat. If I don’t have a title or ten thousand Twitter followers, I’m good for nothing.

The consistent theme of the Bible is that God always chooses the small, the insignificant, even the reviled, to do the impossible, the miraculous (how can we keep missing this?!).

When Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross was writing her famous book on death and dying, she interviewed dying patients, seeking to understand what they were thinking and feeling as they faced death. As she went from room to room in the hospital, she began to notice a remarkable pattern. Sometimes she would go into a dying person’s room, and find them calm, at peace, even smiling. Tranquil. She was a good researcher, and she noted that often she found patients who were at peace just after a certain orderly had cleaned their room.

One day, Dr. Ross happened to meet this orderly in a corridor, and she said, “What are you doing with my patients?”

The orderly thought she was being accused of doing something wrong. “I’m not doing anything with your patients,” she said.

Dr. Ross said, “No, it’s something quite wonderful. After you go into their rooms, they seem at peace. What are you doing with my patients?”

“I just talk to them,” the older woman said. “You know, I’ve had two babies of my own die on my lap. But God never abandoned me. I tell them that. I tell them that they aren’t alone, that God is with them, and that they don’t have to be afraid.”

Who can you touch today?

June 10, 2014 by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Death/Dying, Faith in Action, Grace