Just a Smile

Saturday afternoon, I was on Departmental On-Call
for my unit in the hospital. Image by alwright1 via FlickrWhen I was notified that I had to come in to work, I was really upset. It wasn't about work, it was about football.

You see, since the beginning of the school's football program last year, I have been to every home game of the University of South Alabama. My plans for Saturday afternoon were to go to Ladd-Peebles stadium and enjoy the picture perfect weather and a great game, not to go to work.

When I arrived at work I was in a foul mood. It was a good thing I was to relieve the scrub nurse. This meant I was to wash used surgical instruments, take them downstairs to Central Sterile Processing, set up and check the conditions of the operating rooms. This was a good assignment for me because my attitude was so bad, I wasn't good for human interaction.

I went about my work with the instruments and then checking the operating rooms in relative silence. I wasn't exactly pouting, but I wasn't happy to be there either. Then I was ready to take the instruments downstairs to Central Sterile.

Central Sterile is about as far away from my unit as possible, so it was a good walk, pushing my cart. When I reached the door, I had to ring the door bell and wait for them to answer. I went inside and the lady working inside greeted me with the biggest and most beautiful smile I could imagine. She was very helpful giving me exactly what I needed and we chatted about something I can't even remember now, but I know that when I walked out that door, I was in a much better mood.

I was still at work, I was still missing the football game and the wonderful weather. But I had been touched by something better than football, better than a cool fall afternoon, something intangible. This woman's love, her joy, her helpfulness had showered out of herself onto me and changed my night.

I would not be surprised to find out she knows the Lord and was certainly walking in the Spirit that afternoon. I think what showered out of her onto me was the Lord. Then the Lord did what the Lord does, He redeemed and He restored.