Was it My Time, Her Time, or God's?

Published Nov 22, 2013

2 Posts

The day started out with my being late for work. I was then late for every patient I needed to visit. My entire day was full of disappointments and trials. No matter what I did to catch up with my lateness from slumber; I found myself falling further and further away from my intended goals.

The time of day fell beyond the early afternoon. My last patient to be seen would be the end to a long and sad day. I felt the time crunch on me as I too was late to see her. I still can't remember her name to this day. But, she will always be in my mind and heart from the lesson that she taught me. She lay there as if she were sleeping. She seemed unresponsive and I could see that the pallor in her face meant that she may be taking a turn. I soon went to work on making her presentable and comfortable. I took note of the TV where the channel played a religious program. I knew right then she was a Christian. I gave her cares like all of my other patients; only this time I took extra special care and time. I started with her head and face and progressed onto the rest of her. With each pass with the cloth I found myself humming as I always do but this time I was humming How Great Thou Art. She never complained once. I continued until I felt the urge to kneel down beside her and pray. At the end of the prayer I got up and she opened her eyes. She pointed to the window and said, "Open the window."

I became calm in the fact that she too knew something that was coming. I obliged her and opened the window. She closed her eyes and continued to rest. I went back to my duties of cleaning her and changing the appropriate sheets and gown with new ones. All the while I hummed the hymn that seemed to calm us both. Once I was done, I found myself compelled to once again pray with her. She showed no sign of emotion or unease as I concluded. I cleaned up the room and made my way to the hallway to start my paperwork.

All this time remember not feeling any anxiety in trying to get home to end the awful day that I had. I only remember calm as cared for this dying woman. I entered the room to peer around the curtain as if to give a final approval on how well she was after my cares. She lay there as I watched for a rise in her chest. I watched and waited. I went to her side. She was no longer breathing. I looked around and I looked out of the window. I paused before I turned off the TV and I took note of what had just happened. I then went to report the death to the staff.

Ever since that day I am reminded that maybe my time really didn't matter. My all day scramble to get caught up with time was all in vein. I was rushing for something that I couldn't obtain. But when I came upon my last patient of the day; my worries about time were not important anymore. Her time then became my time. Ultimately, the whole day belonged to the Lord. His perfect timing taught me that I had no control over that day. His timing is perfect even if we don't think so.