Sunday

Christ teaches that there is something in us that lifts us above this life, with it's hurries, it's pleasures, it's sorrows and fears, hurts and disappointments.  

The one who understands Christ's teachings feels like a bird that did not know it has wings and now suddenly realizes that it can fly, can be free, and no longer needs to fear.

St. Geraldine

Every so often, a patient comes along that displays tremendous strength in light of their illness.  One such person comes to mind, her name was Geraldine.  

From the start, Geraldine's' treatments never went well.  I thought she would improve eventually, but she never did.  One problem always followed another.

During dialysis she always had to sit in uncomfortable positions in order for her machine not to alarm.  Many days she couldn't complete her treatments due to access trouble.  Over time this took it's toll on her.  On a few occasions, she experienced access failure and had to be whisked away to the hospital, only to be returned hours later to finish her dialysis.  Throughout her troubles, she never complained.  I dubbed her Saint Geraldine, the patron saint of non-complainers.  This tickled her and she jokingly laughed, but I really meant it.  The last time I saw Gerry they were taking her to surgery to remove her leg.  Somehow I knew that would be the last time I saw her.

I wish dialysis could have helped her the way it does so many of us.  All in all, Gerry enabled me to see my situation differently, and I realized there is always someone else who has it worse.

A story comes to mind of a man who was sick and tired of all his problems.  He says to God, "Lord I can't carry this cross anymore.  The burden is just too great.  Could I trade it in for someone else's?"  God replied, "Of course my son, if your burden is too great, switch crosses with whomever you wish."  The man searched and searched.  He returned to the Lord and said, "Father, I'll keep what I got."

In Memory

Of

Geraldine Stitt

1936-2001

Patience

They say patience is a virtue.  I say patience is a positive trait.  It is the ability to bear delay with confidence and calm.  This means maintaining a fine balance between inward peace and outward control.  It takes time and patience to reap the benefits of dialysis.  Minutes pass like hours and hours pass like days.  In our world of instant gratification, waiting is a learned behavior, and some people are just better at it than others.  Maybe we would automatically become more patient if we were to dismiss our exaggerated expectations of what is due us.  God's timing does not always meet with our own, and sometimes we are required to wait.  With this comes the trust and hope that God has a bigger plan for us.  Sometimes he removes us from a situation and other times he takes us through it.  Whatever you are waiting for, be it your treatment to end or your transplant to begin, know that, "For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven." (Ecc. 3:1-2)  As for myself, I've always believed that "Good things come to those who wait..."

Hang in there...Jodi 

Thought for the Day

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.

If He had a wallet,  your photo would be in it.

He sends you flowers every spring.

He sends you a sunrise every morning.

Whenever you want to talk, He listens.

He can live anywhere in the universe, but he chose...your heart.

Face it, friend - He is crazy about you!

A hundred hugs & a thousand kisses...Jodi

Prayer Power

Prayer is the spiritual communication between ourselves and the divine.  It is impossible to pray without living faith in the presence of God.  Praying are our souls sending "knee-mail".  When a prayer is created on Earth, actions begin in heaven.  For prayers to be heard, we must listen.  Are we speaking too much, that we do not hear?  The most important line in the Lord's Prayer is, "Thy will be done."  Say this with surrender, and peace will fill you.

It is written that Jesus rose early every moring and went off by himself to pray.  We remember his final cry, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"  How many of us have uttered the same?

The 23rd Psalm always comforts me.  It begins, "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want..."  ending with "...Yea thou I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil for thou are with me."  We've all been there, and what a beautiful way to consider our own mortality.

Daily, I pray this prayer that sits on my nightstand.  "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."  Because god clearly hears the cries of the heart; the fewer the words, the better the prayer.  Ben Franklin once said, "Work as if you were to live 100 years, Pray as if you were to die tomorrow."  In conclusion we pray, "O heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath; guard them from all evil, and let them sleep in peace."

In Memory of Ron Thomas, Jodi