Advent 17
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
—EZEKIEL 36:26 (NLT)
We may not even realize how calloused our hearts have become until we meet someone who softens us. After countless trips to the hospital, it felt like I was treated as a number. Maybe you’ve experienced something similar. Pain being dismissed. Discharged with little answers or solutions. Feeling alone in your illness or grief. But this time was different. I met a nurse who thumbed through my thick charts. And with just a few words she restored my dignity.
“What they did to you was absolutely wrong,” she acknowledged. “I just want you to know, on behalf of all of us, I’m really sorry.”
For years, I needed acknowledgment of my pain and justification that what I went through wasn’t fair. And here were the three words I had been waiting for: “I am sorry.” Isn’t it just lovely how we can give the gift of dignity back to one another? Slowly, we may find our hearts melting with mercy and love.