It was another beautiful Sunday morning, and I, again, could not attend church.  Confined by a body cast that started at my waist and went to my toes, I was limited to when and where I could travel.  Therefore, my father remained at home with me while my mother and five year-old brother, Andy, attended worship.  Disappointed by this, Dad cheered me up by playing Super Mario Brothers with me on our Nintendo set followed by watching the beginning of the Indy 500 together.

A few hours later, upon them returning, Andy exclaimed to me, “I made something for you!”    He then handed me a medium-sized rock that he had painted with vibrant colors earlier that morning.

Still cherishing today this gift that Andy gave me, it reminds me of the gifts we offer each other here in the ICU.  Some have skills in listening or perception.  Others possess the ability to teach and offer nuggets of wisdom.  Some demonstrate quick learning abilities while performing tasks on a computer.  Others display a comforting presence to those who are mourning.  Through the variety of colorful gifts that every individual brings to the unit, we together then form a rock-solid unit that serves various populations while together meeting different needs.  It reminds me of the passage 1 Corinthians 12:15-20:

“Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” 

So, what skills do you bring with you to the ICU?  What abilities do your fellow colleagues demonstrate in their work?  In what ways do you or can you mesh these gifts for the greater good of the team as well as those in our care?