Nurturing Our Soul

The Best Gift

Not long ago an elderly, well-to-do woman was admitted to the hospital for gastrointestinal complications. She had been living with a great deal of pain. This discomfort often manifested itself in abusiveness toward caregivers, friends and family.

Matters only got worse when she underwent surgery to have a large portion of her intestine removed. Because of her age as well as other factors her outcome was uncertain. Her care was furthermore impeded because she seemed to be giving up on living.

Everyone wanted to help her to get better. One of her family members mentioned that she liked to receive little gifts and the few they had brought seemed to lift her spirits. Little by little the room filled with flowers, cards and other trinkets. On her birthday some of the nurses and other staff that had been involved in her treatment surprised her with a small birthday party.

The spiritual gifts of each person were manifesting themselves in acts of caring. Remarkably, her attitude began to change and her health improved.

The week that she was to be discharged I went to visit her. By this time she had been hospitalized for many weeks, and I had developed a good rapport with her. As we spoke she expressed her appreciation for the caring everyone had exhibited toward her, from the housekeeping to the medical staff.

As I looked around the room and saw the expression of that caring I asked her which of the gifts she liked the most. She looked at me with a bit of a surprise and I saw her eyes cloud over with tears.

She waved her hand at the things people had brought her saying, "These things are wonderful. But my favorite gift is not found among any of them. That gift was in the form of a nurse who saw me crying one day while I was in intensive care. She came into the room, pulled a chair up next to my bed and gently wiped my tears with a tissue. She asked me what was wrong as she gently took my hand.

"For the first time, I felt safe to tell someone that I was afraid to die. I began to cry again and saw that she was crying also. She then hugged me. She said she understood and encouraged me to have faith in God. For the first time in months I fell asleep soundly and when I woke I knew I was going to get better.

"She gave me the gift of herself. It was the best gift I could have ever received."

By Paul Crampton, Director of Chaplaincy Services