Rough seas and waiting rooms
There was a time in my life when the Lord taught me something I have never forgotten – just how much He loved and cared for me. I had been diagnosed with cancer, and by my fifth treatment, I was tired in every way – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I sat in that waiting room feeling completely wrapped up in my own sickness and feeling sorry for myself. As I looked around that room, I felt the need to pray. I thought, I have prayed, and I am still sick. But something in my heart told me to pray for the person next to me. I remember thinking, I don’t even know them. But I prayed anyway. Then I felt that same voice prompting me to pray for the next person. So I did. I looked around that waiting room and began praying for each individual. I didn’t know their names or their stories. I simply prayed – one person at a time, silently praying my way around the room. Something began to happen within me. I had walked into that waiting room completely wrapped up in my own sickness. I was hurting, I was tired, and I was feeling sorry for myself. But as I began praying for the people around me, I stopped thinking so much about my own storm. When I finally circled back to myself, I wasn’t so bad anymore. I had started out thinking about my own story, and through my prayers God was reminding me that everyone has a story. That experience has stayed with me through the years. Recently, while reading the story of Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4, I noticed something I had never really paid attention to before. Mark tells us that there were other boats with the Lord. I had always read past that sentence. I didn’t know who was in those boats or what happened to them. They were simply there and I never noticed. We hear so much about the disciples in their boat that I had never stopped to think about the others. And suddenly, I thought about that waiting room. I didn’t know the names of the people sitting around me. I didn’t know what they were carrying or what had brought them there. I only knew they were there. And that day, when I stopped looking only at my own life and began praying for the people around me, something changed within. I didn’t walk out of that room healed. My circumstances had not changed; however, my heart had opened up to the others and their storms. Perhaps that is why those other boats caught my attention. I knew what it felt like to be so wrapped up in my own pain that I couldn’t see beyond it. There were other people sitting in that room with me, each carrying something I knew nothing about. I had been so focused on my own need that I had forgotten I wasn’t alone. Others were hurting too. Sometimes we can become so focused on what is happening in our own lives that we don’t see the people sitting right beside us. We don’t know their stories, but God does. We may never know what our simple prayer, our kindness, or our willingness to notice someone might mean to them. That day, God opened my eyes to the people around me. And somehow, in praying for them, He brought peace to my own heart, calming the restless waters of my spirit. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. — Galatians 6:2
Cheryl Mixon-Cruce is Pastor of Ochlockonee Bay United Methodist Church and Sopchoppy United Methodist Church.