what I'm reading: caring for the sick from Edith Shaeffer's What is a family?

Edith Shaeffer has truly been an older women to me while my son Ben has been ill. Her chapter "A Shelter in the Time of Storm" in What is a Family? has taught me how to care for a sick child, and reminded me that I can only do my best in the midst of life's demands - very comforting when I feel inadequate! Here's what she says about the enormous significance of caring for the sick.

For some people the memory of illness carries with it the memory of loving care, cool hands stroking the forehead, sponge baths in bed, clean sheets under a hot chin, lovely-flavoured drinks, alcohol back rubs, medicine given methodically by the clock, flowers near the bed, curtains drawn when fever is hurting the eyes, soft singing of a mother’s or father’s voice during a sleepless night. ...

What is a family? A family is a well-regulated hospital, a nursing home, a shelter in time of physical need ... A family should be a training place for growing human beings to know how to care. ...

When illness hits we should remember that this period of time is part of the whole of life. This is not just a non-time to be shoved aside, but a portion of time that counts. ... The opportunity to do something practical about making you family remember their sicknesses with a feeling that yours was the "best hospital in the world" ... gives purpose to some of the drudgery of changing beds, struggling with bedpans, cleaning up the sickroom floor, or thinking up something comforting to do. ...

So nobody has cared for you? Well, you can begin to start a long line of people caring for people. Isn't that a worthy part of your career?

There is never a series of little packages of time given to you in life labeled: TIME FOR AN ILLNESS, TIME FOR A WEDDING, TIME FOR A DEATH ... You can't face the sickness, the operations, the broken arms and legs, the serious diseases, the disasters, or even the headaches, unless you realize there is never a convenient time set aside for joy or sorrow, protected by neat little walls so that the two things will not mingle and spoil each other. ... Life has to go on, and we can only do the best we can in the melange ...

A family should be a place where comfort is experienced and understood, so that the people are prepared to give comfort to others.

from chapter 5, "A Shelter in the Time of Storm", in Edith Schaeffer's What is a Family?

image is from painting by J. Bond Francisco photographed by freeparking at flickr