Muddy People

Alexander was recently in ICU with diabetic ketoacidosis. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I wanted to share some of my experiences from the hospital. We had some amazingly kind people care for Alexander. However, we also came across some fairly insensitive people. Like the one lady that was impatient with Alexander and I as we walked at a snail's pace down the hall. He was hooked up to an IV and it was difficult to get around. She actually sighed deeply as she passed us. I met her another day in the cafeteria when I was with Isaiah and he was bouncing and jumping and getting in people's way. Again, it was obvious she was highly irritated. She didn't realize that his neurological problems make it nearly impossible to "behave". Later, one of the volunteers in the play area told us she was too "busy" at that moment to open the older playroom. She was actually checking email on the Internet. We had several of these minor irritations but because of my state of mind I allowed them to turn into huge issues. I was just completely overwhelmed and allowing these situations to steal my joy.

That evening I had a really weird experience. It may have been lack of sleep but I think it was God showing me something. Isaiah's dad used to talk about all the muddy people, but I had never "seen" it this way. It was kind of like a day dream. In my "dream" I saw people walking around covered in mud. Each person covered in the same amount of mud regardless of their good or bad deeds. However, for some reason, none of these people seemed very aware of their own mud even though it was everywhere- oozing out of their ears even- everywhere. Each person felt justified and better than the other people despite their own mud. As the mud dripped off them and onto the floor, each person went around accusing those around them of being muddy and dirty. "Look how muddy and dirty you are!" And the people they accused were accusing them back of being muddy and dirty. Each person equally dirty but only seeing the dirt in and on the other people. God used this dream to show me that this is what I was doing by being bothered by the minor annoyances at the hospital. I was pointing my dirty finger at someone not aware that I, myself, was covered in the same amount of mud.

We should always pray that we wouldn't be tempted to point out the mud on others and that we would recognize that the only thing that keeps us from suffocating in our own mud is the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. His blood is the only thing that washes the mud away, but it never makes us better than anyone else. Lastly, this poor woman in the hospital probably had her own sick child there which altered her mood. I missed out on an opportunity to reach out to her because I was so preoccupied with self.