I spent the greater portion of Christmas day at the Charleston Area Medical Center in ICU with my husband’s family as they spent the day with their mother who’s battling the fight of her life after a heart attack. It was there we celebrated Christmas in the waiting room and shared a meal better than most people of the world could imagine. My sister-in-love Judy prepared and hauled to the hospital Thirtyone ® bags and coolers filled with the Ham and all the trimmings, topped off with the best peanut butter candy I’ve ever eaten in my life! It was almost as sweet as the fellowship with family. It’s cliché to say we take life for granted, and for the most part empty; it’s hard to understand what we have until we’re on the brink of losing it. From the looks of the shoppers and Facebook posts America looked to fare pretty well this Christmas.
You don’t have to spend Christmas day in an Intensive Care Unit to realize how blessed we are, but it doesn’t hurt. Most of the other patients in the area had visitors loving on them, stroking their brow and speaking words of kindness, but many laid alone as the medical staff tended to their physical needs but there was no time to take care of the emotional. I returned home late last night to be greeted by Izidora the Chihuahua, who didn’t know it was Christmas, she just knew she missed her people. Just a simple act of love as she spun around in circles and jumped up and down at my feet. I have a lot to learn about love…
I scrolled past posts on Facebook this morning trying to catch up with friends and family to see how they spent their Christmas and looking back at me were two of the most beautiful brown eyes ever from a child in the Philippines. She held in her little hands a box of food given to her by a missionary and I thought… I just about missed Christmas again. It’s not December 25, it’s January 1 through December 31.
It was in the box of goodies delivered by my sister in love, it was in the stroked brows and whispered “I love you’s”, it was in bowls of rice in the Philippines and in Izidora’s funny dance. It was in compassion for the convict, mercy for the addict and a coffee cup from the Bogg’s family who love me and allow me to be a part of their family antics! It was in a hug from church kid Connor, who tells me I’m his favorite, and then tells 30 others the same thing… but he means it! Christmas didn’t end yesterday, only the commercialized part.
I hope today you find a hidden Christmas gift, or you deliver one yourself. I’m heading back to Charleston… with that though in mind.
Matthew 10:42
And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
