Gardening

My wife and I spend the greater part of Wednesday in San Francisco as we combined a scheduled EEG test with an appointment with one of her specialists.  The time was well spent but it made for an extremely long day.  In the end, the seizure specialist was able to read the completed EEG by the time we arrived at his office in the building next to the CPMC Hospital and prescribe an additional medication that would take care of the alarming symptoms that my wife has been experiencing over the last month.  He stated that we should see some quick results and I am happy to say that we did!  It was amazing!  We actually both slept through the night for the first time in five weeks!

It seems that every time we go into the City for one of her appointments that we experience another example of God’s grace either toward us or through us.  We arrived at the underground parking lot at the physician’s office around 11:20 in the morning.  From there we took the elevator to the fifth floor and followed the signs as we wound through that building and across a catwalk to the adjacent hospital.  Then we continued upstairs to register and were subsequently directed back down three floors to the lab for the EEG test.  By then my head was spinning a bit and I was happy to be able to sit back, as they ran the test on Piper, so I could look at a map of the campus to try and ascertain where we were and how we were going to get back the doctor’s office!

About 2.5 hours later we found ourselves entering the specialist’s office back in the first building that we had originally come from.  There was an older lady talking to the office staff so I sat down next to my wife and waited for our turn at the sign in station.  The patient at the counter was talking rather loudly and my attention was peeked when she mentioned the name of Piper’s brain specialist who we had just visited last week.  When the women had completed her transaction she grabbed her cane and asked the gentleman behind the counter if someone could open the door for her.  Since I was closest to the door I immediately stood up and said that I would be happy to get the door for her.

As she neared the doorway I smiled to her and mentioned that my wife was also a patient of the other doctor she mentioned.  With that the lady’s smile vanished and she went into a short tirade about how much she disliked the doctor and why!  I was quite surprised by her comments as this doctor has been absolutely wonderful in her care and diagnosis of Piper.  So, I just smiled a little wider and happily told her about our experiences as she ambled out the door.  Once out the door she stopped and asked me a question about what was going on with Piper.  When I told her, she stood there quietly for a little while and then told me that she had been through the same thing with her mother and understood my personal pain as I helped “my mother!”

That comment has been made by others in the past and I just continued to smile and told her that Piper was my wife and not my mother.  Then the women asked her age and got so downtrodden that I knew I had to do something fast in order to change the direction and mood of the conversation.  So I took a breath, smiled again and gently told her that we were not giving up but had our faith in the God of miracles.

At first I thought that my comment went right passed her as she almost began to cry, repeating that “I know what you’re going through.” But then when she suddenly paused and added: “God bless you,” I knew my point was received.  After that she turned and walked soberly down the hallway.   I was thankful that another individual came to the doorway at that point and we joked about me being the doorman which helped to put a joyful slant back in the situation!  When I turned back around into the waiting room, I noticed that the other patient in the room along with the members office staff were all staring at me with smiles on their faces!

I think that this little incident is a good example of what the Apostle Paul was taking about when he directed the church in Philippi to “Let your gentleness be known to all men.  The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:5 NKJV)  Other translations say to let your “moderation, reasonableness, forbearance, gracious attitude, humility or leniency” be known to those around you.  I believe that Paul is encouraging us to just be “real” when we are out and about in our daily lives.  To be “real” according to who we “really” are as members of God’s family!  To live as the new man or women that we were recreated into when we became born again Christians!

It was obvious that the older lady in the doctor’s office the other day had some physical needs and had been through a very difficult and emotional situation with the declining health of her mother.  But she was living her life through her natural senses and had no hope.  I on the other hand, possess a hope and a positive expectancy of the greater things of God for my wife and I in our lives, and I felt like it was my responsibility to share some of that with her at that time.  Did it do any good?  To be honest I am not really sure, but I know by the way she paused in her hopeless comments and said “God bless you” that something hit home with her!

I think that this is all that our loving heavenly Father is asking us to do.  Many times our job is just to plant a small seed that hopefully will be watered by others who come across their paths and help it to grow into a full-fledged tree of faith in their lives.  What do you think?  This weekend might just present a great opportunity for you to do a little gardening in the lives of those around you!  So keep your “seeds” handy, listen to the small still voice inside and plant accordingly.  Have a great weekend.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking… “What SEEDS am I expecting TO PLANT today?”