You’ve probably all seen them and even had occasion to use one. Those plastic bags with a drawstring they have at hospitals to place your belongings in. They are used to hold clothes, shoes, and other personal items. Though made of plastic and may seem a little flimsy at first glance, they are usually amazingly pliant and more resilient than they appear to be. They can bear more weight than what you may think.
Having worked in an Emergency Department for nearly 21 years, I have countless times assisted a patient or family member place their belongings in these types of bags. Most of the time this is while the patient is temporarily sporting one of our notable hospital gowns that everyone loves to wear. Other times, to help bag up random loose items they want to securely transport home with them.
Sadly, I have often had several occasions where I have had to place the clothes and belongings of a patient who has died in such a bag as this to give to the grieving family. It is those times when I look at the bag and think it is not good enough for such a task. It seems even flimsier at those times. Yet, not just that. It just seems too ordinary, simple, and unworthy to be performing such a task as this. These items are no longer just someone’s belongings. They are now precious treasures and a last link to a lost loved one for a grieving family. I often wish I had something more than a plastic bag with a drawstring to place those items in and offer to the family.
I have also on these occasions been asked to pray with the family at the bedside during these times of loss and grieving. It is at these times I often view myself in the same manner as I view the bag. I feel too ordinary, simple, and unworthy to perform such a task as that. I feel that way because it is true. But while I am praying out loud with the family, I am also simultaneously praying quietly in my head asking the Holy Spirit to work through me and to help me be more resilient, stronger, and capable than I have it on my own to be. I am flimsy. I am weak. But with Christ working through me I can access a strength and power that helps me be more pliant, resilient, and hopefully more comforting and effective than ever feel that I am in the moment.
Notes from a Book Nerd 