We Enter and Exit At The Hospital

We Enter and Exit At The Hospital


Here in my home town, I have been observing the construction of a new hospital. It has taken a good amount of time to build. When finished, it will be a modern medical facility, one of the world's best.
As I have drove by it at night and saw  all the lights on and people busy working there to get it ready to open, I have thought on many things.


I have thought of all the people that will be admitted to this hospital but will never leave, alive. They will die here. I have also, thought of all the babies that will be born here and gladly leave with their beaming parents. The hospital is a place of joy and grief. Such is life.
I have often visited the hospital to be with patients in their final days and hours. As I sit with the patient, a dear friend or brother or sister in Christ, I hold their hands until their soul has slipped away into eternity. There, in the hospital, many a soul flies away into the vastness of another world. It was in the hospital, one evening, very late, that there I found myself. I was there, sitting on the bed in a hospital holding in my arms, my beloved grandmother. As she breathed her last, my mind went back to earlier days when she was much younger and full of life, busy doing this and that, and taking me to the movies, and we both so very excited. Happy days. I held her, kissed her, and said my final goodbyes.

As I walked from the room, I walked to another part of the hospital, and there I was with the new arrivals. The new babies just born. It was such a happy place. It was full of life and laughter. People coming and going with such joy.

This is my custom, when I leave the bed of one who has died, I journey to the babies. It helps me. It helps remind me of the meaning of life and the joy of life and the cycle of life. Even in that moment of death and grief, there is joy and love and excitement. One leaves the earth, and one is just arriving.

There are many lessons in this great scenario of life. There is a cycle of life. There is birth and there is death and it is ever played out before us. There is in all of this the great question, what is the true meaning of life. Now, that is a question to ponder.

The best answer I know, is this, "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind." (Ecclesiastes 12:13). I always hope and always pray, that when I let go of a dear ones hand who has just died, that they truly found this purpose to their life.

So, the next time you are at the hospital for a visit and it is a sad moment, take a walk over to the babies. Look for those that just arrived, and smile, and say to yourself, there is hope. God is telling me, there is hope!