Faith in the ER
My dear daughter-in-law, Halo (my nickname for her because
she is an angel), called at 4 pm. My son had to drive to Virginia
and she was alone and very ill. Fortunately, they live close so I
could be at her side in less than fifteen minutes. She was suffering
from the standard crud going around except that she had some unusual
symptoms, like a feeling of numbness in her extremities which I thought
needed looking at, even though I had quickly done a “mom”
diagnosis of dehydration we decided to take her to the ER.
We arrived at the packed Gwinnett Hospital emergency
room at 5 pm. It took an hour to even be called into triage so that
the seriousness of her complaint could be determined and how far up
or down on the list she would be allocated. Some poor souls had already
been there for 5 1/2 hours. We waited along with dozens of other sick
and hurting people. It occurred to me that the waiting room of the
ER is a primordial soup of germs and viruses whose only reason for
existence is to wipe out humanity. It also occurred to me that illness
is a great leveler. Everyone, the rich, the poor, old and young were
all there desperate for help.
Halo was just miserable and simply could not get comfortable
in the hard chairs. At one point she sat on the floor and put her
head in the seat of one. That is when I convinced her to lie down
on two and put her head on my lap. Then I put my hand gently on her
hot forehead and realized I could pray for her. Duh. Now, mind you,
I certainly have the faith that God can and will heal us through righteous
touch but I personally have never done it before. Anyway, I believed
that if He willed for her to improve, she would, so I prayed in Christ’s
name for her illness to leave.
Twenty minutes later she sat up and looked at me and
said, “ I think I feel better. I’m not so achy. What if
we go home and I’ll just drink Gatorade and re-hydrate?”
Which is what we did.
Now, there are those who will be quick to conclude that
she was already on the mend and that prayer or no prayer, hand or
no hand, the outcome would have been the same. Others will see the
value of believing in faith as a tool of healing. Regardless, what
the experience did for me was to confirm something else.
In all the debating about the existence of God and the
rationale of whether or not religious belief systems enhance or destroy
civilization, there is always one thing overlooked. And ultimately
it is the key to a higher understanding.
Many religions focus on living righteously, being good,
honest, kind, loving and growing toward an elevated level of consciousness.
This is not new. Seeking what is considered “good” as
opposed to “bad” is generally accepted as what is best
for the survival of mankind. Violence and greed, lasciviousness and
wanton living often result in empty damaged lives. These are among
the many vises considered “bad” and the fruit of such
behavior is rarely worth plucking. Like in the parable of the withered
fig, the tree that produced it should be destroyed. So, one way or
another it is in our best interest to climb up at every opportunity
rather than wallow in the mud. Common sense and desire for quality
in life, not just religion should easily come to this conclusion.
Religion is the traditional vehicle to help with this
struggle to reach for high ground and many successfully become new
and better people through a belief system or organized doctrine; the
fruit of which is peace, joy, and purposeful living which overlaps
and spills over into other lives. Good begats good. Of course, many
abuse and misinterpret dogma and generally speaking I find that these
types don’t really love anyone but themselves, which indicates
that they didn’t understand anyway. They didn’t get it
anymore than those who openly reject and actively argue against faith
based living. Unfortunately, they still call themselves Christians
and it is they who get the spotlight and give Christianity a bad image
to those who eagerly seek to find reasons to debunk it.
Yes, people can be “good” without religion.
Perfectly logical fleshly explanations can often be applied to otherwise
tagged “spiritual” events. But it isn’t so much
the event as the fruit or result/purpose/outcome that is the key.
It is the fruit of such things that many times cannot be explained
away and sometimes is even hidden.
As we were driving home, Halo, who once again felt like
talking said, “Thank you for putting your hand on my forehead.
You prayed for me didn’t you?” I said yes, I did. She
replied that she knew it and smiled.
She also knew that she went from wishing someone would
shoot her to feeling 100% better in a matter of minutes.
In this instance, the fruit born of the faith that prayer
and touching could actually heal was better than medicine for her
in that moment. Something in her was deeply nurtured and comforted
by this. Medicine is only for the body anyway which is temporal. The
health of the spirit will always take precedence over the importance
of the flesh, but which can only come from a leap of faith.
For some it is a conundrum, for others it is a wisdom,
nevertheless the fruit is real and undeniably good.
