Difficult Seasons

Hospital Visits

Unless you’ve done a lot of hospital visitation, the answer to the question “Why are you going?” may not be as simple as one would think.

There are lots of possible motivations, some perhaps more noble than others.

• I want to provide support for this person/family.
• It’s my duty.
• Someone expects me to.
• I need to, even if I don’t want to.
• I’ve been told to.
• I’ve been asked to.
• It makes me feel good.
• I’m going to feel guilty if I don’t go.
• I’m concerned.
• What if something bad happens and I haven’t been there?
• I want to show my love.
• I’m doing it to serve God.

Like me, you’ve probably had all of these and maybe some more run through your mind as you decide to make a hospital visit.  And every time you make a visit, it’s probably a combination of these that provide the motivation.

You see, we need some motivation to make a hospital visit because it’s not that easy or convenient.

A hospital visit requires a special trip, often hassles (and expense) with parking, finding your way around in unfamiliar surroundings, and other physical challenges.

It takes time in an already too busy schedule.

And then there’s the discomfort most of us have with being in a hospital setting.  Hospitals are serious places — people are there because they’re very sick.  Hospitals have that sanitary look, that sanitary smell.  Folks are hooked up to strange tubes and machines.  People in white coats or scrubs go around doing things that you don’t understand.  You seem out of place, someone intruding on serious work.

And the big one, the person you’re going to see is seriously sick or injured, and you don’t really know what to expect or what to say when you get there.

But if you need one more bit of motivation, here’s one from Jesus. Visiting the sick is one of the six actions we do that Jesus counts as if we did it for him.

Making visits to the sick are that important.

So maybe learning how to do it better, with less discomfort, is a worthy ambition.

That’s my goal in beginning this series on hospital visits.  As we go along, your questions and comments will be a valuable part of the discussion.

Tags: hospital vists, motivation

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 3:28 am and is filed under hospital visits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.