麻豆约拍

From the Reverend Kate Bottley:

It鈥檚 been a tricky couple of weeks for us, my lovely Mum has been under the weather and has had a bit of a stint in hospital. Now in my line of work I鈥檓 used to sitting beside hospital beds and making conversation but I鈥檒l admit, unlikely though it seems that even I ran out of things to say.聽 We鈥檇 done all crosswords, watched telly and so we sat in silence and watched the comings and goings of the hospital ward.

My mum and I are very much alike, we are both fairly nosey. And sitting and watching the ward proved to be time well spent. There was the woman with the trolley that sells the papers, and a bloke who was 10 pence short but got his paper anyway. A lady whose husband had been in a few weeks before, coming back to hand over box of thank you chocolates for the staff; and families disappearing into the relatives room and nurses with them with boxes of tissues.聽

I saw the care the staff took to remember my Dad鈥檚 name when he visited and that my Mum likes her tea with just a splash of milk.聽There were lots of other small gestures of kindness and love that might have otherwise gone unnoticed, gestures that are repeated in hospital wards all over the country every day.

Jesus had a thing or two to say about why the little things matter, he talked about the greatest people in the kingdom of heaven being the ones who are the least in this, the difference faith the size of a tiny mustard seed can make and a story of a widow who despite being poor, gave what little she had. You see the little things soon add up and quickly make a big difference and even a small gift, if it鈥檚 generously given can be richly received.

Mum鈥檚 home for the time being and doing ok and while us her family, can鈥檛 be in control of the big things like her surgery and treatment, we can do the little things, plumping her pillow, making sure her tea is just as she likes it, and remembering that like we saw on the hospital ward, little things really matter and they soon add up to make a very big difference.聽