One weekend, as my husband and I prepared for our guests, we worked hard to start making dinner and cleaning our home. With our preparations almost being done, my husband went to reach an object on the dining room table and, while doing so, accidentally knocked a houseplant down from the bookshelf causing dirt to go everywhere.

A day later, while Jeff and I were tidying up from the previous night’s dinner, one of the shelves on the bookcase suddenly came loose, and with objects flying off, one of the teacups broke as it crashed to the ground. Upon noticing the mess, we just glanced at each other, thinking, “Here we go again…another mess to clean up.”

The chaos of this particular weekend reminds me of the chaos we can experience sometimes here at the hospital. We admit a patient, getting him or her settled on our unit and stabilized medically, only then to take a breath and watch the next new patient come rolling through our doors. It is enduring these times of chaos, though, that lead us to a greater awareness and appreciation of the calm that follows.

Lord, You are always in the midst of both the chaos and calm. Help us always to focus on Your presence and direction in the midst of it all. In Your precious name I ask this, Amen.