rob's reflections

One of the things that I have learned in the hospital is that there are things that can go wrong medically that a person may have never even dreamed of. You can injure yourself and develop an infection inside of your body that doesn’t show itself until much later. You can get into an accident that you never saw coming. You can develop a cancer that is rare and has no symptoms. Your organs, or your spinal cord, or your cells may do something completely unexpected. 

I know that for myself, and for my patients, we often ask, “why is this difficult thing happening to me?” Or “why is this thing going wrong in my life?” Working in the hospital has taught me that for everything going wrong in my life, there are a thousand things going right that I am not even aware of. 

Without my even knowing it, God has been keeping my heart pumping and my lungs breathing, even since before I was born. My spiral cord is intact and my brain can use it to send messages throughout my body, and I never even noticed. My cells are fighting off all kinds of illnesses, and I don’t even notice or think about it. My legs can walk and stand on their own and my body gets rid of its waste it the ordinary way. My eyes can see and my ears can hear. All of these amazing things are happening inside of me, at all times, yet I focus on the one thing that is not going right. 

So many people wonder, “why do bad things happen?” Yet we fail to ask, “why are so many good things happening to me, and inside of me at this very moment?” The sun came up this morning; my pantry has food in it; my car started this morning; my family is healthy; I know where my next meal is coming from; I slept on a soft pillow in a warm, dry house last night. The air in my city is breathable, my neighborhood is not in danger of war; we are going to make it to payday, just like we did last month, and every month before.

At my church we say, “God is good, all the time.” When I think of the few bad things happening to me, I need to stop and recognize the thousands, the millions of good things happening to me that I take for granted. God is protecting us, watching over us, and providing for us in ways that we will never fully know. 

The Psalmist writes, “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain…For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Instead of thinking that God has forgotten us when things go wrong, let’s remember that He has been quietly providing for us and protecting us without our even knowing it. There is much to be grateful for.

God is love.
-rev-rob