As much of the work within medicine may be familiar and comfortable to me, I want to be sensitive to the needs of those around me and not stop at involvement in obvious medical need. This is not the main issue, and yet I feel so grateful to have been given a door by which to enter into the lives of those around me.
This past week, a few of us gathered outside a house, a very simple shack on borrowed land. As I listened to one of my patients share, the young woman who called this place home, my mind raced. She cried a little, telling us of her feelings of hopelessness. She told us how her husband had left and she was alone. She was young, jobless, and poor. She had just been diagnosed with cancer a few days before.
What was next? Maybe surgery? But there wasn’t enough money. Yet, with what value do we measure her life?
God, you are a God of justice. Give us wisdom. Where do we go from here?
We offered what support we could with our words and presence. I honestly wondered if it even mattered. I wondered if she saw us as only rich workers in an organization who had the power to help-- but would only sit with her, offering words, which didn’t feel like enough…
Is this a place for questioning? And judgment is unfortunately too easy…
I know there are more questions to ask.
I know this is only the beginning of our involvement in this one life.
And I know that I have only just begun a new chapter in the journey; where once again I have the privilege of getting up close and personal with many who hurt.
So I pray against being callous and hardened- against getting ‘used to’ the poverty of hopelessness around me, because through Jesus we have been offered more. Tears fall when I recall these situations, and even though I am tired of my emotions always revealed, I don’t want the tears to stop when I am no longer ‘new’ at this job. Even though I have only just met her, I will remind myself that it is okay to cry. She is His child. He loves her deeply.
He has given us hope in what is bigger than the feelings of despair that often seem to prevail in this community, and I will continue to shed tears for those He loves, and cling to Hope.
I do have confidence in His promises unfolding and in His love. For this woman, her neighbors, and for us, too; as we do our best to make His hope and justice come on earth as it is in Heaven.
‘We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion- how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.’ 1 John 3:16-18
