I mentioned this during prayer time at Lincoln Park-Lynnwood UMC on Sunday. I thought that readers here might like to see the referenced article I posted on my blog about an observation from the ICU of East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.
The first few paragraphs read:
You could tell he had dealt with hardship and mastered it. Sun-browned and windblown, he probably earned his living outside. His knuckles bore scars faded by time and freshly pinked. His clothes still carried the evidence of work around machinery and paint—a worn T-shirt once white now tending toward gray, heavy khaki pants to protect against tools, steel-toed boots. Beneath the shirt rippled obvious muscles covered by no fat and prominent veins like vines. The picture of strength.
As I entered the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit to my daughter’s room, he crossed my path exiting another room. He didn’t really see me, defocused, looking at the floor in front of his feet as he walked.
He was crying. Not sobbing, but tears running down his cheeks and breathing through his mouth in an attempt to control…. [read more]
Some of the nurses have read it, and seem to really appreciate it. I hope it will help you on some level. We are surrounded by people facing challenges. Reach out for connection.