The Journey...

Part of my weekly routine involves visiting people in hospitals.  It is a pretty important part of my week, and although nobody really wants to be in a hospital, it’s a time I actually look forward to as a chance to connect with others.    

However, in spite of the fact that I am regularly in and out of the hospitals, I can still manage to get pretty lost trying to see a patient…  Now, I’m not always terrible with directions.  I can figure out how to scramble out of some pretty wild mountain ranges, but my intuition seems to be completely off when it comes to hospital layout.  I am forever finding myself in the wrong building, tower, or floor.  Earlier this week, I was trying to visit a member, and I thought I knew my way around this hospital… I didn’t!  I had to return to the info desk three times for directions! (Now this wasn’t all my fault.  Different people had told me go different directions, and I was beginning to think nobody knew their way around the place.) I finally arrived, but I was kind of annoyed with the whole process!  As I was heading back to church, I started thinking about all the time I had wasted and everything else I should have been accomplishing.  However, I also started thinking about this week’s scripture passage.  Throughout the Bible, Jesus is always on his way to help people.  He is always being called to heal, teach, or comfort those in need.  However, in spite of always needing to be somewhere, Jesus will always take time to notice the needs of those around him.  If I were a disciple, I probably would have been pretty annoyed with Jesus.  He was forever getting distracted.  I always want to be somewhere, and Jesus was never too busy to stop and notice the needs of those around him.

I wonder how my day would change if I started to appreciate life as a journey?  What if we all started to notice the people around us?  Maybe we are called to experience the journey as much as we are the destination.  That is my prayer this week.  May we take the time to notice the people around us, and may we start to share God’s Love in every moment we are given.

Blessings!

PB