God did come through with my wish for a White Christmas. Even though it was predicted, we here in the deep South do not hold our breath for bountiful snow-covered landscapes. I sat for hours watching the graceful dance of the snowflakes as they blanketed our beautiful grounds. We experienced the mystic beauty of God's wintry art for two days. It felt like Christmas, it felt like winter, and it felt like God's presence for new beginnings. As we prayed morning prayer on Christmas Day, the words we chanted from the Book of Daniel invited us to be thankful for God's coming in another year of our lives. "Bless the Lord, dews and falling snow;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, ice and cold;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, frosts and snows;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever." Daniel 3: 68-70
After visiting with my family in Florida the week after Christmas, I returned to Cullman to begin the New Year with the thought "life goes on." The older I get, the more I realize each year, in fact, each day, is a new beginning. I may THINK I know what my new journey will be, but God sometimes has OTHER plans for me. My first week of the new year was the ordinary expectation-catching up on mail, answering e-mail, following the monastic horarium, and returning to my nursing ministry at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham. My rather ordinary schedule began to look like it was taking a different turn that Friday at work. Weather reports were predicting freezing temperatures with rain, sleet, ice and snow with 3-5 inches of snow accumulation. Naturally, I was excited about another mystical landscape. However, my joyful anticipation quickly dissipated when we were told that if the hospital implemented the hazardous weather plan we would have to be prepared to come to the hospital to stay through the inclement situation in order to provide ongoing service to our patients. The plan was initiated Sunday afternoon and I got the call saying I needed to come. As I made the fifty mile nail-biting trek at 50 miles per hour with snow and sleet already sweeping across the windshield, I prayed fervently to arrive at the hospital safely. I did arrive safely and thanked God from the bottom of my heart. As I arrived on the unit with overnight bag, pillow, blanket, uniform attire, and comfort food snacks, I was greeted by my co-workers, some just arriving, some still working and having to stay over. The conference room was full of activity- TV weather news, some eating supper, others interacting with cell phones, iPhones, laptops, and occasional conversation with each other. We hung out till around
9 pm waiting on a room assignment where we would be able to sleep. There were two assigned to a room. I got the sofa bed. I don't think I got more than 2 hours of sleep-I was still awake at 2:20 am. At 5:30 we got up to start getting ready to report to duty. I made it through an 8 hour shift even though I felt a sleep attack coming on at various intervals throughout the day. I was grateful I only had 4 patients. The environment was much quieter than a normal work day- no constantly blaring PA system, no orders to sign off since most of the physicians could not get to the hospital to make rounds, no admissions or discharges. I realized that we were all actually pretty calm after the initial shock of this unplanned event in our lives. I have to say I felt God's presence in this calmness, praying that we would get through this since it looked pretty imminent that we would be staying another night also.
During the early afternoon hours, one of the surgeons called the unit, stating he was at Piggly Wiggly and wondering what kind of snacks we would like. He later appeared to make rounds, toting bags of goodies, tea and orange juice. We were all so impressed with his thoughtfulness and generosity. What a marvelous example of "over and beyond the call of duty." The snacks were welcomed, enjoyed and consumed- and lasted through the next day!!! The multitudes were fed!!!
The Administrative staff hosted a pizza party the first night while fans watched the Auburn vs.Oregon game. And the multitudes were fed!!!
Even though it was hard to give up two days of our ordinary plans, leaving loved ones and sleeplessly sleeping on sofa beds, there seemed to be a calm, cheerful presence among us. Perhaps it was a surrendering attitude to make this event the best it can be, to live up to our mission of providing "care you can believe in," to implement God's plan rather than our own.
As I left the hospital the second day, numerous physicians were making rounds and writing orders, patients were being discharged, the operating room was scheduling cases, the PA system was blaring, the halls were full of people scurrying to various locations. My parting thoughts were
"Thank you, God
and
LIFE GOES ON."
