It was ministry in its simplest form.

After the medical team had waited a couple of hours for the family of a critical patient to arrive, the family finally showed up—one of them bringing along their baby.  It had been a difficult time the last few days as each relative had expressed at different times various perspectives on the patient’s future plan of care.  Upon meeting them, I learned that the mother of the baby had forgotten to bring along milk, which I generously offered to get her.

Finally, with everyone being present, we all gathered in one location to discuss and develop the next steps of action regarding the patient’s hospitalization.  However, in the midst of the conversation, the baby began wailing, requiring the mother to take her out of the room.  Realizing that the medical team needed the woman to be present in this decision-making process, I offered to care for the child, so she could return for the consultation.  After she accepted my offer, I began walking back and forth along the hallway, pushing the youngster in her stroller.  Within minutes, she started calming down, leaning back and relaxing in her seat.

Pushing a baby stroller is one example of ministering “outside the box” of our standard job duties, responding to whatever is needed at that time.  Ministering to others does not need to be a complicated task.  As the writer A.W. Tozer explains, it is “believing that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.”  No matter how great or small, may we see the Lord in every task we perform in every moment.