O Lord for those of us who complain about having to wait in rooms with heating and air, cushioned chairs, and big screen TV’s in order to see highly qualified doctors. While forgetting about the millions who will never see a physician. Forgive us.
We dread mammograms, colonoscopies, physicals and fasting blood work while the idea of preventative care is unknown to so many. And fasting overnight is not a choice but a condition of one’s life. O Lord forgive us.
We grumble about nurses waking us up in the night as they make their rounds to provide care while so many lie alone each night dying.
We object to orders to rest and heal and take our medication while so many will never heal from injuries to their bodies and wounds to their souls.
We whine about co-pays and deductibles while so many die each day from diseases that are curable if you only have the money.
O God have mercy on us.
Help us to be grateful for all the gifts we have been given.
Allow us opportunities to help those in need of care.
Give us the courage to advocate for those who have been forgotten
– for those whose pain we would rather not see.
– who cries we would rather not hear.
And as we remember the amazing grace we have be given – may we seek to share that grace in both our words and actions – so that your world might become one where all of your children are given the compassion that was demonstrated to us by your son Jesus Christ – in whose holy name we pray.
Clay Gunter
June 28, 2017