Dear Lord..please grant me patience…and grant it to me NOW.
That’s an old joke I probably read in a book of church humor somewhere but there certainly is some truth to it..in my case anyway.
Most of you have gone through what we are going through now: waiting..and waiting..and waiting in the hospital for news about a loved one.
Linda’s big family has now kind of staked out a corner of the ICU waiting room looking anxiously at the door every time someone walks by in hopes it will be a doctor or nurse with information on Mother Mary’s condition.
Results of lab tests promised in a half hour to 45 minutes, usually don’t get passed down for several hours.
While Linda and the others seem to have adjusted to the frustrations of “hospital’ time versus real time, it just drives me crazy and wish I had their patience.
I know where it comes from….their mom.
Mary Trudeau is one of the most unflappable people I’ve ever met.
She was having babies pretty much through the forties, fifties and sixties and there wasn’t much money or many frills but she still managed to raise each of her eight children in an atmosphere of love, respect and responsibility in their tiny Alcester home.
I, of course, didn’t know my future mother-in-law back then but you can see the fruits of her labor reflected in those same children all grown up today who now faithfully and patiently deal with her illness and, as the hours pass, courageously accept the reality of the situation.
I just want to kick something.
There isn’t time or space here to explain the kind of person Mother Mary is..but here’s one small example that I think speaks volumes.
She probably wouldn’t want me telling you this but the kids all talk of how their dad, Len, used to snore so loud at night it would rock the rafters..
I once asked Mary, how in the world she could stand it. I said when there’s snoring in our house one of us usually retreats in disgust to another room in order get some sleep.
She just smiled and said, “Oh, you get used to it. Besides I take comfort in the knowledge that he’s safe and sound right there beside me.”
“Dear Lord, grant me patience..and please make it something like you gave Mary.”