I have just been to the Accident and Emergency department of our local hospital on recommendation from a doctor. I was worried because it is the last place you want to visit when Covid is around and so I reluctantly did as I was told. I masked up, registered at reception and sat down in a Covid ‘safe’ seating area to wait my turn.
At first, I found myself more concerned about social distancing than what anyone else was going through, or indeed, how much pain I was in. When someone sat near me, I looked at his plastic face mask and worried that he was too close. People passed by to get drinks from the machine – no 2m distancing here!
I kept myself to myself and started to overhear the reason for people’s visits there. You couldn’t help it – when you spoke, everyone could hear you because most of us sat silently. Someone had swallowed deadly hemlock and his wife was torn between being very cross with him and scared she might lose him at the same time; a student had fallen downstairs at college and was waiting for her leg to be x-rayed; someone else had issues that I won’t go into here, but it did make me laugh when I heard her say her reason for being there – thank goodness for masks!
After a while and feeling a little bit sorry for myself, I decided to invite God to join me in this situation. I felt that I was going through it on my own up to then and I also felt guilty that all I wanted was to go home and had no interest in anyone or anything else. I started to look at everyone and pray for them, asking the Holy Spirit to help them with whatever was wrong with them, to comfort them and their families and I began to feel that I was more in a community with them. They might not have known that I was praying for them, but it certainly made me feel closer to them. The result also was that I felt more comfortable and less ‘why me?’ For those hours, they were my community and I cared about their wellbeing.
Do try this the next time you feel frightened and are in an environment that you feel unhappy to be in and you will start to feel that you can cope better by being part of the emotional wellbeing of those in your temporary community.
God bless and keep you well!
Widows Mote 