By Marygrace Lomboy, CRNP
I recently started doing seminars on end of life wound care and was scheduled to do 3 seminars in 4 days up in Boston. There was a blizzard predicted for the region and I questioned the education company who scheduled my itinerary if they still wanted me to head up there as I felt like I was flying in the eye of the storm! They said to proceed and do as many seminars as I can do—given the projected forecast. I agreed, somewhat reluctantly, knowing that there was a chance that I may get stranded up there. On my way, flights were cancelled, but after 3 airplanes, I got to Boston. I did one seminar and then the snow began to fall, and fall, and fall, and fall. The weather service hit it right this time—a true blizzard with hurricane force winds. There was a travel ban for 30 hours and needless to say, I was trapped in a hotel for 3 days. I slept in, worked on my presentations, got antsy and ran 6 miles on the treadmill—which is not like me at all! During one of the times I actually left my room, I met an interesting woman from Belgium who was also in lock down mode due to the storm. We talked over our steel cut oats and coffee and before we knew it, the morning flew by. During our conversation, we tackled issues as complex as world affairs, social media, politics, health care, economy and raising our children. It was refreshing to hear her views and what her hopes and dreams were for her family and society as a whole. Our conversation led to what our greatest wish is for our children as they grew into adulthood. It’s interesting that we both wished the same thing for them…that is that our children have faith in something larger than themselves to believe and have hope in. The world has many distractions and feels chaotic at times—doesn’t matter if you call Belgium or the United States home. Our children need to feel grounded and safe, even when the world and the media surrounding them is reporting that the sky is falling. As we said our good byes and wished each other a safe journey, I came back to my room and started to think about what we had just shared and what that wish for a simple faith really means.
Simple faith. Does that mean not questioning, not struggling through, just simply saying yes blindly to something or someone out there? The words “childlike faith” is mentioned in the Bible, but what does that really mean? Yes, children are innocent, but are not exposed to the economy or why wars are started. I don’t think that God wants us to come to Him with this simplistic view of the world, but more an intellectual pursuit of Him and His goodness, as seen through so many people around us. To pursue Him and to come to know God is then accepting the great mystery of God. It’s in the struggle and the pursuit that we find Him.