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Have you ever been  'in the hospital'? In one way, one might say that access to medical care is a great gift - we are aware that many people the world over have little or no access to quality medical care.

In another way, a hospital stay can feel like the opposite of gift! Among other things, it's so vulnerable - it could be likened to that of being like an infant. You may not be able to get out of bed. You are completely dependent on others for your food, for relief of whatever pain you may be experiencing, for even understanding what's wrong with you. This vulnerability is at best unsettling; it can be a kind of suffering.

I remember when I was hospitalized at the age of 11 - first for a kidney infection, and then, after a long mystery, exploratory abdominal surgery revealed the key issue - a near-to-bursting appendix. My most vivid memories of that weeks-long hospital stay were of the nurses. Very quickly, I came to know which nurses were 'safe' not scary, which ones wouldn't get mad at me when I rang the bell to use the bedpan, which ones would smile at me and care for me with the warmth of a mother. The small gestures of kindness offered made the difference for me between a good day, and a bad day.

There were times when I felt I was troubling the nurses with my human needs. Of course, who can stop from having to use the bathroom or needing a drink of water - it's only human!  Still, sometimes a nurse could make me feel bad for having a body that needed tending. Which only added another layer of malaise to the experience.

So here we are - our human needs go on asserting themselves all our lives - physical, emotional, spiritual. We need love, we need food, we need hope, or medication...we need a bathroom! All of us need each other - we're vulnerable as babies - in a way our lives are a kind of hospital, where we take turns being the nurses, and being the patient. We seek to temper our own needs in healthy ways, and to help as we're able. We share our stories. We pray.

Ah God, may we try not to make ourselves and each other feel bad for having needs. Jesus waded right in there with us, all those years ago, and loved - loves - us past the bone. May we learn to be patient and gracious with our vulnerable needy selves. As we do this, something amazing happens - our vulnerabilities no longer divide and frighten so. When met with gentle kindness and understanding, our human needs, however harrowing, are transformed into opportunities to love - they become just another thing that brings us together. The gift of interdependence becomes the gift of community. And the hospital becomes a garden...

-Melody Goetz