Strength

Today I was at a medical lab. I had to have some blood taken and as I sat in the waiting area I think my world shifted a little bit. I was there for a specific reason...I've been through a bit of a rough time over the last six months or so, but as I sat there and just listened to the conversation flowing all around me, I think my perspective changed a bit.

I was having blood drawn to test for certain things, and while the things that they are checking for COULD be difficult to go through, there is the possibility that it could be nothing at all. Overall, I'm in good health. I can run a mile quite easily. I still have all of my hair. My skin is a lovely pink color, no sallow palor to it at all. I am of a healthy weight...I could probably lose a few pounds but I am neither extremely overweight nor too thin. I can eat pretty much any food I want. I have no allergies, no foods that make me sick for one reason or another. I'm doing well. I'm doing all right. And I'm hopeful.

These women that were sitting there with me...well, I think they have been through a lot. There were three women in the waiting room with me, and it seemed that they all knew each other, mostly because they had been there numerous times before. They seemed to be on a first name basis with the lab techs, and they were sharing war stories. They were speaking of the various blood tests they had gone through, and one women even commented that she had experienced having her blood drawn so much that she knew a specific item,"the butterfly," to ask for, which apparently made it less painful and left less of a bruise.

I'm pretty sure that one women was there for cancer. The other had an ongoing disease of some sort and the third woman seemed to have something that had genetically been passed on to her two daughters, for she spoke of how they all came in for testing each month.

I wondered, as I sat there pretending to read my Harry Potter book but instead listening to the conversation, how these women kept those smiles on their faces. How did they smile and joke their way through the wait? They seemed to look their various challenges in the eye and meet them with laughter. As they talked about their struggles, they also laughed about funny things that had happened in their lives as well. They shared about things happening in the world that brought them sorrow, such as the recent tsunami, or the little case of young Madeline. Through it all, though they maybe didn't have all of their hair, or perhaps they were a little skinny or a bit overweight, or their skin color had a yellow, sickly tone to it, I couldn't help but notice the twinkle in their eyes.

Suddenly, the blood tests that I was having didn't seem so scary. My problem didn't seem so big. I thought of those women, of their strength, and their humor in the face of trials. It was inspirational to me. It made me lift my head up and want to face my issues head on. It made me want to laugh about it, and share funny stories in my life as well. These women, who all seemed to have such trials in their lives, took time out of their day to smile at me, to say a few kind words to me...even though they had no idea who I was or why I was there.

Yes, I saw some incredible strength today. It left an impression on me. It made me want be more like them. It made me feel strong. It made my little problems seem to be just that, little. And, they suddenly became something that I could overcome with God's help, for I AM strong!