I
have a cold flu at the moment so my coordination is not the best and
neither is my breathing due to having a stuffy nose. Hopefully I won't
write anything loopy on here... because I definitely feel that way right
now, lol. This entry will not be very long since I'm not feeling too
hot.
I am often reminded of the lyrics of the song called, "For Good," which is a part of the musical called Wicked.
I never saw the musical, but I did sing the song as a Junior in high
school with my chorale group, for that year's graduating class. The
words to this song have impacted my life greatly. I have been reminded
of these lyrics more in the past couple months while working at a
retirement home this summer. The people who I have met have touched my
life. They have made me realize how lucky I am to be alive and youthful;
full of energy and excitement for whatever lies ahead of me in my
future. I work as a dietary aide for them, which basically makes me a
waitress. Yet, I like to think of my job as more than that. I make sure
that I smile and ask these people how they are doing each day that I see
them. I do that because I want them to know that I genuinely care about
them. A couple of weeks ago, Diana (my co-worker) and I decorated the
place mats at each of the tables in which the people sit at. I love
doing that sort of thing. Decorating or doodling has always been a fun
thing for me to do. I wrote the residents' names in fun letters and drew
flowers, trees, Hawaiian scenes, etc. on their place mats. The day
after Diana and I decorated them, the guests at this retirement home
inquired if I had drawn those things for them. When I told them that
Diana and I had both decorated them, the response of these dear
residents made me feel so good inside. Elsie, a woman who came off as
being mean and unapproachable in the beginning of my employment at Oak
Leaf, said that what we had done was one of the nicest things anyone had
ever done for her. In fact, she asked me to cut out the picture I had
drawn on her place mat so that she could take it back to her room that
night. I think that what I learned most from that experience was how
small and simple things can really bring great things to pass. To me,
the things I doodle on paper are nothing- they are simply a way to pass
the time or express my creativity, but to a resident like Elsie, they
were the world.
Lately,
I have found myself contemplating how I am going to say goodbye to
these people, whom I have grown to love so much this summer. I care
about them and truly mean it when I say that I love them. I will be
leaving them in the end of August to go back to college at Brigham Young
University (BYU). Indeed, I know that I need to go back to school to
continue my education, but I never imagined or thought about how hard it
would be to leave the people behind, whom I see on a day-to-day basis. I
hope that these sweet friends will not forget me when I go back to BYU.
It is likely that they will. Yet, I will never forget them. They
have left a permanent impression on my heart. I consider it to be
particularly fitting to post the lyrics to the song, "For Good" at this
time, as I feel that it sums up the way I feel about the residents at
Oak Leaf well. I know that God places people in our lives and leads us
to people too. People do not simply cross our paths. There is a very
deliberate, loving hand guiding these people to the places the Lord sees
fit to put them. For it is when we embrace these opportunities to make a
difference in the peoples' lives whom we come in contact with that we
become the Lord's hands, which hands can be used to welcome and reach
out to His precious children.
For Good:
I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those who help us most to grow
If we let them and we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you:
Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But, because I knew you, I have been changed for good
It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me like a hand print on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end,
I know you have re-written mine by being my friend
Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a sky bird in a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But, because I knew you, I have been changed for good
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
I do believe I have been changed for the better
And because I knew you, I have been changed for good
No comments:
Post a Comment