A Picture of the Church in My Boy’s Room
By Guest Writer, Kara Dedert
Today’s Treasure
Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly – not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.
1 Peter 5:2
Our monitors were off, Calvin had gone to bed doing just fine the night before. Breathing well. Alert. It had been a rough weekend but we were hopeful that it was resolving.
“Mom!” Sophie clambered up the stairs and poked her head into my room. “Something is really wrong with Calvin!”
I don’t usually get too concerned, after all, something always needs attention and it takes a lot for me to reach panic mode.
I went into his room and found him burning up and mostly unresponsive – I double checked the thermometer, over 105 with a heart-rate flying high and his little body feeling like a hot cake. We gave meds to bring the fever down and took turns cooling his body with cold cloths.
Lunches still needed to be packed for the day and kids sent off to school so we did our best. When I had put the last ponytail in and folded the last lunch I headed back into Calvin’s room.
What I saw stopped me, the beauty of it. Maybe that’s crazy, but I’ve learned to see so many portraits of beauty in hard places. And you know what I saw here? More than sisters at their brother’s side, it was a clear picture of how the body of Christ is meant to function.
When we see need, draw near…
My kids don’t always know what to do or how to fix things for Calvin. But every morning they pop into his room and see him for who he is. Not the medical needs that define much of his life. They see the little boy underneath all the mess and the stuff and the drama.
What about us as the body of Christ? When people have needs larger than we can grasp or know how to deal with, do we avoid them because the size of their problems? If we would lean in and show love and care regardless of how intimidated we feel, no matter how different the person is, imagine how much more we’d reflect Jesus.
My tendency is to ignore what I don’t understand or feel equipped to deal with. But whatever and whomever God has placed in our path demands our response. Not to a problem, but to a person.
Call for help…
We are meant to carry burdens together. I could not do this without my children, husband, parents, siblings and community. Sophie found him this morning and ran to get me. Then as we were standing by his bed this morning she asked, “Mom, can you pray for him, right now?”
As the body of Christ, we need each other. We are to be hands and feet for one another, in prayer and action. God is the ultimate rescuer, but He uses you and me to be the hands to rescue and to hold each other’s chin up above the waves.
Bring comfort…
Violet rubbed his little hairy legs and Sophie sang to him while putting a new cool cloth on his head. It’s not easy to stay with someone in distress. It is costly on your emotions, energy and time. It can make you face really hard questions and uncomfortable realities. Maybe it makes you experience a level of trauma along with a person.
If you feel like running, can I ask you to stay? It’s hard but that’s where you will experience the power of Christ’s sufficiency in you. And it’s where someone else experiences the care of Christ through you. This is the body of Christ in action. It affects them, it changes us.
Stabilize & strengthen…
The first thing we try to do with Calvin is stabilize him. Then we move on to finding the source. We check vitals and treat the symptoms but our goal is to find and treat the cause that is underneath the surface issues.
Meals, counseling, friendship, and practical things are all real helps for immediate needs. But the real way we care for each other’s deeper needs is growing together in our understanding of who God is by studying the Word and walking by the Spirit as a community. This means active discipling, the Colossians 3 mandate.
When you think about it this way, I saw two things in my boy’s bedroom that morning. A sick boy. But hands, lots of hands – caring for and helping him along. The picture of our family’s life is not complete without it. And neither is the everyday function and purpose of the Church.
Originally posted at www.karadedert.com, May 23, 2009
Kara Dedert is the creator of Root and Grow, a midwest mom to five and wife to Darryl. She writes regularly on faith, special needs, parenting, and home. Her writing has been featured at Key Ministry, Live Better With Disability, Break the Parenting Mold, the Bible Study Magazine, and Fox 17.
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