A Lesson in Grace and Compassion

I'm scheduled to go in for Gallbladder surgery on Wednesday afternoon. Can't say that I'm looking forward to the surgery, but I sure won't miss the discomfort I've been in for the past month and a half, which leads me to today's topic.

On Wednesday, the 14th of January, I was sitting at my desk when all of the sudden a wave of nausea swept over me. That was immediately followed by a crushing pain in my chest, numbness in my hands and fingers, dizziness and electrical shocks in my jaw. My immediate thought was that I am too young to be having an heart attack (I'm 44). But all the signs and symptoms pointed to that. I had a co-worker take me to the ER and was checked out and told that my heart was fine, but that my Gallbladder was a little suspicious from the ultrasounds that they ran. Turns out, a gallbladder attack can present some of the same symptoms as a heart attack. While I was relieved that it wasn't my heart, I have had to endure a very rough month and a half with all kinds of pains in my stomach and back. At times, it feels like someone is stabbing me, and at other times, it feels like my stomach is on fire.

I have had to live with this and it is wearing me thin. I have found that I am especially irritable and short tempered. I have had trouble concentrating due to the constant pain. And generally, I have been hard to get along with. So, this morning, on my way to work, I was asking God to give me His grace to make it through today. When I got done praying, I was just driving down the road in a meditative state and was struck by the thought that we go through things in this life to teach us and to allow us to reach out to others and this is what came to my mind:

So many time we have a tendency to see those around us who are struggling with cancer, multiple-sclerosis, or other debilitating issue and we have so little compassion for what they are going through. I know in my own case, my mother-in-law has gone through chemo and has had some lingering issues from it. At times I would catch myself thinking that she just needed to suck it up and get on with life. But now, going through what I am going through, I have a new insight to the suffering that goes on around me every day. It doesn't have to be a medical condition, it can be a mental issue, it can be the grief of everyday life, but all around us, those we work with, those we see at Wal-Mart, the people stuck in traffic beside us, are all grieving and suffering something. It's just our human condiditon. No one is immune, no matter how spriritual we are, we all are sufferning from the ailment of sin.

In light of this, we ought to take a look at those around us with the eyes of God and realize that we need more of His grace and compassion in dealing with those around us.