Sunday, June 20

Intermission

I interrupt these road trip postings to bring you some amusement. This is mainly for those of you who are not facebook frequenters, and thus, would have missed an entertaining snippet of my life.

This morning at the hospital, I had a patient who was perhaps slightly confused. As I was starting an IV on her, she rather abruptly said, "Did you know it's a sin to cut your hair?"

Slightly surprised, and also quite curious to know what verse she had interpreted to mean that, I asked her where in the Bible that was found.

"Oh, somewhere in First Paul, or... well, if you read through the New Testament, you'll find it there somewhere." She then continued to educate me in spiritual matters, first relating that it's actually a sin for men to have long hair and a sin for women to cut their hair (to clarify). She went on to tell me about her encounters with the Holy Spirit, greeting fellows with a holy kiss (and the opposition she met to that practice), and other such matters. All in approximately 7 minutes.

I laugh at this, and I hope you have too. However, in a way, it's kind of sad to me too. First, it's sad that her mind is no longer as sound as God created it to be. But it's also somewhat of a rebuke to me to think that she has absolutely no inhibitions to sharing her faith and spiritual life with me-- a complete stranger-- and I can't remember the last time I truly shared my faith and spiritual life with a stranger. Not that her way is the way that I ought to go about it, but it made me pause to reflect. What am I so ashamed of? Why can't I seem to let go of my inhibitions and share God with others?

3 comments:

Jonas said...

Thanks for remembering your non-facebooking brethren, Kristin!

She sounds like quite a refreshing individual. Did she have super long hair?

Kristin said...

Not super long hair, but pretty long for someone her age.

That's one thing I really enjoy about my job; I get to meet some of the most interesting individuals. I love people, especially observing and listening to them.

Christen said...

Isn't that what the UNashamed GYC was all about?

I know what you mean, though. I usually just wait for someone to ask me. I haven't quite figured out the right technique. I wish I had, though. I've needed it during this trip. . .