Listening Between the Lines

Update: You know how we always say, “Take it one day at a time”?  Well I have been saying that a lot lately and today I discovered that that is not at all what I am doing.  I am actually taking it a half a day at a time.  I don’t seem to know what each half day will bring.  One day I have  lousy morning then a great afternoon.  Other days it is the opposite.  Today, I started the day throwing up because I have not had a specific medicine since Saturday (the insurance will not cover it), but by midday, I was feeling better and able to redeem the afternoon.  So, I’ll just keep plugging away, one half a day at a time.

Listening Between the Lines: We really need to learn to “listen between the lines.”  When I first got home from the hospital the second time (after the second surgery), I began dialysis in my new facility.  Karen wrote to you that I had had a rough first treatment which included sitting in vomit for three hours.  While many read and prayed and showed concern (thank you), two people “listened between the lines.”  Our friends Gregg and Ashley Fanus picked up on one little phrase Karen mentioned and in so doing discovered a need.  Karen mentioned that I had thrown up on the one pair of “comfy pants” I own.  My surgery incision and staples rub raw if I wear my regular pants and shorts, so Karen bought me an extra big pair of sweat pants.  Gregg and Ashley understood the dilemma I was in and rushed to meet the need.  They showed up at my home with clothes they went and bought, comfy shorts, pants and shirts.  Man, what a small thing it seems but it has made all the difference to me this past week or so.

We all need to listen like Gregg and Ashley.  There are probably hundreds of needs presented to us daily that we completely miss because we are set on our own agenda or we fill in our own blanks.  I know I must do that all the time.  Think of how many small, easy ways we could bless people if we just listened a little more carefully to what people say, or watched a little more intently what people do.

Thanks Gregg and Ashley for the clothes, they have been great.  But thanks more for your tender, listening hearts and for teaching me a significant lesson.

wes©