Are you already living someone else’s prayer?
With some help, I’m realizing that in many areas of my life I’m living what millions of others on this earth are praying for. I’m sitting in a hospital room as I write this with one of our sons who gave us a little scare a couple days ago that led us to the emergency room. Adam, now 27, was born with down syndrome and has been a type-1 diabetic since the age of two. My wife and I have a belief that when someone we love is in the hospital, at least one of us will be present 24/7. Thankfully, Adam’s moving in a positive direction and the journey we’ve been on the last four days has provided some time for quiet reflection with the things that matter most in life. I’ve spent that reflection time going over what’s happened since we arrived here.
Interestingly, my article “What are you truly committed to?” was published the day we headed for the emergency room with our son. The RN assigned to us gave me a perfect example of someone totally committed not only to the responsibilities of her job, but also to serving us with compassionate care. Her name was Alli Yambrick and we came to see her as an Angel as she helped us navigate the uncertainty of what was going on. She was an answer to our prayers. My over-developed curiosity had me wondering what motivated Alli to be so committed to excellence. When I asked, her response led me to believe that she would make an excellent trainer of others in her field.
Timing plays such a huge role in all our lives and I’m always on the lookout for encouragement I can utilize to be the best version of myself possible. As things began to stabilize for our son, I began to look for things that could keep myself positive so I could transfer that to my wife and our son. I became aware of so many of the staff at the hospital who were committed to excellence and that alone provided great comfort to us. Through the years I’ve learned that spending hours, which then turn into days, at the hospital as a support advocate for someone you love can bring about a unique type of boredom. So, I spent some time scanning the internet for encouragement. Wow…am I ever glad I did because I found just what I needed to manage my perspective.
I landed on a blog that had posted a title: Read This Slowly. It’ll Change How You See Your Life. Undeneath the title were 4 things to ponder: 1) If there’s food in your fridge, clothes on your body, a roof above, and a bed to sleep in, you’re richer than 75% of the world. 2) If you have some money and the freedom to move, you’re already in the top 18%. 3) If your body is healthy today, you’re luckier than a million people who won’t survive this week (we’ve heard several code red and code blue over the 4 days we’ve been here so far and wondered how the person fared). 4) And if you can read this, see this, understand this, you’re more fortunate than 3 billion people who can’t. The blog post finished with: So pause. Breathe. Be thankful. You’re already living someone else’s prayer.
Granted, I found this blog post while sitting bored and sleep-deprived in a hospital, so it may have had some additional impact on me. But the message contained within the post set me up for a perspective that was loaded with gratitude for all that was right in my life and that of our family, which admittedly, most of us ignore and rarely acknowledge. After pondering the blog post a little more deeply, I began to realize just how powerful this thought process can be, especially when we find ourselves lamenting a situation with the unanswerable question “why me?” lingering in the back of our mind.
Through the years, my wife and I have learned to forego attempting to answer the time-wasting why me question and just move straight to getting busy with examining positive paths forward. However, we’re human…with emotions that swirl through our brain to the point of knowing when and how to ask for help. To be living someone else’s prayer has required us to lean heavily on our faith, the relationships we’ve nurtured with friends and family, and being a person of action whenever we need to be. Easy? Nearly never…but ALWAYS WORTHWHILE!
There are many things that I discover can work well for me that I believe can also work well for you. So, I’m inspired to share. While it may be a big ask, I want you to pause for a few minutes and consider all the different ways that YOU are currently living someone else’s prayer. Begin with the blog post I shared above. There’s a reason it begins with Read This Slowly. It’ll Change How You See Your Life. Contemplate the 4 points the blog post shares and then add your own. Do you have access 24/7 to clean water? 663 million in the world don’t Do you have reliable transportation? 7% of adults in the U.S. ages18-34 don’t. I could go on, but you get the picture.
For YOU, the key here is first recognizing that in a huge number of ways you ARE living someone else’s prayer, allow yourself to load up on the gratitude this conveys, and then put this new perspective to work in whatever situations you face in life. It really provides a great starting point for all the challenges you face now and will someday face in the future. Gratitude…it’s your new super-power. Use it often. Hey…I Believe In YOU! GiddyUp!