Visit

"Why don't you go out and walk a little bit? The nurses don't let you do that?"
He looked at me quietly.

"Have you always lived in the Dallas area?"
He stretched his muscular arms and nodded gently.

"Well, Bryan, if you're still here next week, I'll come back to see you. I don't want to see you here since you want to go home, but I don't know if you're going home," I continued pleasantly.

"What is your name?" he asked. It was the only question he asked in our conversation.
"Janine."
"Janine," he repeated with a soft smile. "Yes, Janine."

One of the nurses had told me Bryan had complained no body cared about him.
So, I stopped by his hospital room to visit.
He had been there for five months.
He said he hasn't been to church in a while.
He didn't complain about his illness so I wasn't quite sure why his stay was lengthy.

"Paraplegic"
I gasped unconsciously.
I had arrived back at our chaplain's office and had looked up his medical records.

Bryan couldn't walk.
And I had told him to take a stroll in the hallways to relieve his boredom.
And he's letting me come back to see him.

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22 - 23)

A man of gentleness and self-control.
The fruits of the Spirit don't only grow in churches.
They grow wherever the heart is willing.

Photo credit: advances-in-medicine.com

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