.

It was all about me and my situation, but that quickly changed. As we showed up my first steps within the door gave me an indication how wrong I was. The room was packed full of children coming for some kind of surgery that day. Within those first few moments I recognized some of the children we had seen the day before in pre-op. As I sat holding my own girl I gazed at the people in wonder that so many children would be in need of surgery.

There were some that had obvious physical needs that broke your heart to think of all the surgeries they would need in the coming days and years. I looked in the eyes of parents whose hearts were in every bit as much pain as mine. In that room I believe was almost every kind of pain and suffering that could be had by children and their parents. It was a sobering moment, one filled with much perspective.

As I type this I have been in the hospital for two days and God has used each moment of it to remind me that it is not all about me. Such as the moment when I stopped to use my computer and found myself having a conversation with a young lady with a year old child in the hospital for chemotherapy. Her spirit and resolve were an inspiration but it still did not stop my heart from aching for her and her child.

The halls, the waiting rooms, the cafeteria and the patient’s rooms all serve as constant reminders that perhaps your situation is not so bad after all. Or at least that you are not alone in you pain.

Let us leave the corridors of a children’s hospital and look out to the world that surrounds me and you. I would dare say that all around us each and every day are people who are struggling with great pain, if not physically certainly spiritually. From the eleventh floor at this hospital I can see much of Dallas. An area full of millions of people, imagine if you can the amount of suffering among so many.

Yet often I walk by and think little about it. Often I am so caught up in my own world that I fail to notice the hurt in others lives. While God surely wants to comfort me and you in our times of hurt. I believe He also wants to use those painful moments to teach us to look outside our little world and see others as He does. When Jesus saw the hurting multitudes and their lost ness it says in the scriptures, He had compassion on them. I suspect He wants us to as well.

God does not wish to waste your pain if that makes any sense at all. He wants us to use our experience to teach us to hold the hurting hands, to love those who are broken, to listen more intently, to pray with more fervor, and to recognize each opportunity to share His love with someone.

Early Monday morning God woke me up again to the realities of this world.

• Look around you today; make a list of those you know who are having some kind of pain. Leave no one out, your friends, your family and even those you do not think so highly of. Then look for ways to meet one of their needs, even if it is in a small way.
• Do not limit yourself to church friends; the world around you has droves of hurting. Keep your eyes open in your neighborhood, local club or sports team as well as when your at work. Opportunities are limitless.

Scripture: John 13: 34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all mean will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Prayer: Dear Lord we thank you that you are there for us when things hurt. Help us to share the comfort, joy and peace you give us with those we come in contact with. In Christ Name, Amen.