The more busy and successful my earthly life becomes, the less time and inclination I seem to have for my Beloved.
Recently my father had to spend some time in hospital in intensive care. While he was there he underwent a dramatic improvement and recovery (thank God) and was soon required to be moved back to a normal hospital ward before being discharged from hospital. When the time came for my father to be moved out of intensive care there was a delay. You see, there were no suitable beds in a suitable ward for him to use and for this reason, he spent one extra night in intensive care when he could have just been in a normal hospital ward.
During that time, the intensive care nurses needed to continue to monitor him (at a more vigorous level than would be the case if he were in a general hospital ward). This was clearly a drain on their resources as those nurses could have been attending to other patients who were more in need to intensive care, but because of delays beyond their control, they continued to care for my father.
Finally, when a bed was available in the other part of the hospital, my father was moved across and things moved on nicely. But I have been thinking about the delay caused by the lack of space in that hospital. You see, it seems no different to me to try to find space in a busy hospital and trying to find space in a busy life to fit God in.
The more busy and successful my earthly life becomes, the less time and inclination I seem to have for my Beloved. Where I used to be able to spend hours in prayer, the busier my life becomes the less time I have to devote to prayer. And in all the rush of things, as I am zooming from one place to another and from one catastrophe to another, it occurs to me that I am more blessed than words can tell. You see where I worry that I am running out of time, God is providing me with an opportunity to choose HIS time and HIS way.
And just as my father stayed needlessly in intensive care in hospital for one extra day, so too do I stay needlessly in the things of this world for extra time when really I should not have to do that. Really, what I should be doing is spending time on the real things that matter. I should be looking upwards at God, instead of across at my neighbour – or worse, down at the things of the world. For it is a well-worn phrase that we cannot take the things of the world with us when we die, but perhaps it is not something that sticks in the mind the way that it really should.
And I have been thinking about that today as I have been thinking about that extra day in the intensive care until, all because there was not enough space for my father in the ward…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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