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by David Anderson

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The Case of the Hospital Orderly

June 10, 2014 by David Anderson 6 Comments

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?

Filed Under: Death/Dying, Faith in Action, Grace

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jeanne says

    June 10, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    Thank you for this gem, David. So true!

    Reply
  2. Matt says

    June 10, 2014 at 9:39 pm

    Getting out of myself and helping another. It can be so hard for me but the payoff appears to be eternity. Great reminder.

    Reply
  3. Marty Gilbert says

    June 11, 2014 at 11:24 am

    You breathe such vast Love into this! Thank you, David

    Reply
    • David Anderson says

      June 11, 2014 at 11:40 am

      Thanks, Marty. Bless you–

      Reply
  4. Michael says

    June 11, 2014 at 4:36 pm

    Thanks David. I needed this.

    Reply
  5. Ginny Lovas says

    June 11, 2014 at 10:20 pm

    Yes, David – I have met more than one Orderly that fits your story – a cleaning women as well at my house, and a good friend who seems to know when I am facing a tough problem with my Computer and other mechanical problems.

    God bless them all!

    Ginny

    Reply

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