It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, When an elderly gentleman in his 80′s, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation I asked him if he had a doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer Disease.

As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him. “And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?” He smiled as he patted my hand and said. “She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.”

I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, “That is the kind of love I want in my life.”

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True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be. The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything that comes along their way.

Story:

Once there was a wise king who cared for his people so much that he wanted to know how they lived. He dressed himself in rags and, night after night, sat with a poor man who lived alone under a bridge. There they’d share dinner that they scavenged from a garbage dump nearby. Soon, the poor man looked forward to the evenings because of the stranger’s company.

One night, the king decided to finally reveal his true identity. In full regalia, he went with the royal entourage to visit the poor man. ”What do you want to ask of me?” inquired the benevolent ruler. He expected the man to ask for wealth or a decent home or a place of privilege in the king’s court. Instead, the poor man replied, “You’ve showered others with your wealth, but to me, you’ve given yourself!”

Reflection:

This is the story of our lives. Jesus is Emmanuel, meaning “God is with us.” Rulers of this world can give us wealth but only He gave us His very self. He left His throne in heaven and took on flesh to be one of us. There’s no greater gift than that.

Lord, thank You for the greatest gift I could ever receive — Yourself!

How can we give the gift of ourselves to others this Christmas?

Story :

A sage wanted to test the ability of one of his brilliant disciples. He sent him out from the ashram telling that the disciple must develop some qualities as a fruit of his elegance. The span of life-test was ten years and he returned at the end of it. The master asked him to perform as he had learned. Claiming to have learned something most rare, he led the teacher to the nearby river.

Surprising the master, he walked over the water to the other shore and said, ‘Master, this is the fruit of ten years’ tears and toil from my part. I spent whole of my days and nights to learn this crucial art.’ The teacher was silent, he said nothing. Slowly he took some wood pieces and made a small boat. Within a few hours, he too crossed the river with ease. Approaching the disciple he said, “My dear child, why did you waste so much of years in learning such a small art? This could have been done in few hours.”

Reflection :

Miracles do attract people. But faith does not necessarily include miracles. God has placed in us many natural talents and capacities. Faith-filled life does not mean suppressing them and developing some other faculties. God wants us to be human, not angelic as far as our faith is concerned. But once God anoints us, He might bless us also with extra ordinary opportunities and miracles. We must make use of our talents, opportunities, time and strength of age to serve the Lord. It is not necessary that we should have miraculous powers to serve the Lord.

Every believer wants to grow in faith. But the modern world is a bit confused of what is really the growth of faith. People want fever to be cured today and cancer tomorrow. The next day they want to see the dead rise in order to believe. Even among the servants of God the growth of faith is from small miracles to big miracles. We pray, strive and hope for this kind of a growth.

But I believe that this is not a growth in faith but a decrease in faith. Because we need more faith to believe that the air we breathe is a gift of God than to believe seeing someone raising the dead to life. Miracles easily fill us with faith but ordinary life instances do not.

If we are able to see the hand of God in ordinary situations of life, than in the extra ordinary ones, we have more faith. More faith and fewer miracles we need; less faith and more miracles we require. God is even in charge of our hair getting grey and He has counted them all. Let us grow in faith to the small things in our life. Let us see God’s hand in the trivial incidents and be people of abundant faith.

Faith is not always bringing into reality what we desire. If it was the case, Abraham, the father of the faithful, would not have remained childless until the age of hundred. We know that he had tremendous faith, but no children. He became the father of the faithful by believing God though God had not given him children.

Faith counts in believing that God is in charge, though everything is out of the way.

- – - written by Jinto Mathew