Early on, I said this blog would be absent of political or religious agendas.
I am sticking with that claim, but I cannot seem to ignore what’s going on in our country with health care reform. It really matters little to me which side of the aisle you support. (See? No agenda.) Both sides make some good arguments, I suppose. (Oh, so tolerant.)
Still, as I watched our legislators debate the health care bill, I would have found it even more entertaining if what they were debating had not been so important to our country. I wasn’t completely sure I wasn’t watching the British Parliament there a few times. I didn’t see any white wigs so I was pretty sure it wasn’t. As passions continued to rise on the floor of the House, and feelings grew hotter, it was actually nice to see a few of them lay their cards out on the table. It’s often hard to pin down a politician on anything.
Now that the legislation has passed, and has been signed into law we can only wait and see how we will be affected.
Many fear that doctor’s offices will be overrun with new patients trying to get an appointment thereby limiting their own access to health care. Others worry about their present health care coverage, and if costs will continue to rise in order to keep it.
As a nurse, I wonder how secure my job will be as hospitals will undoubtedly be tightening their belts in preparation of whatever results come down the pike from this historic decision. We can speculate, worry, rant, rave, cuss, and discuss it all until the cows come home. All this hoopla is called job security for those in the news media arena. Perhaps a career as a reporter would be better.
I love my daughter. If you look up the phrase “knee jerk reaction” you’ll see her pretty face there. It also appears in the dictionary by the word “panic”. Calm, cool, and collected all have someone else’s photo by them. My daughter often comes to me, all in a tizzy, with her overwhelming situations.
I try to calmly take her face in my hands, look her in the eyes, assure her that the world has not stopped turning, and that I can fix almost anything. Generally, in her world at least, I can. If I can’t, then her dad usually can come to the rescue. And if he can’t, then we’ll help her through whatever it is. I have proven this fact to her time and time again, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Something else will come crashing into her preteen life, and once again the panic sets in.
As I watch the reactions of so many to this new national healthcare plan, I am reminded of my daughter.
Once again the sky is falling, and once again we must be reminded that God is in control. Too often we depend on things other than Him to sustain us. We counted on our investments to have enough to retire on, or send kids to college. Oops! That didn’t quite work out, now did it?
We depend on our own energy, abilities, and talents to meet our wants and needs only to find that we don’t quite measure up. Hmm. How did that happen, and what do we do about it now? Now we find that we might not be able to depend on our Blue Cross policy to be there for us in our hour of need! Oh the pain!
I can just see God reaching down, taking our faces in His mighty hands and saying, “The world has not stopped turning, and I can fix anything. And if I choose not to fix it, I will help you through whatever it is.” It is during times like these that we need to be reminded that God alone will meet our needs. We can try to be our own providers, and we do, but so often we fall short.
Remember the story of when God’s people, the Israelites, were wandering in the desert, and God provided the manna each day to eat?
They were instructed only to gather enough for one day. Yet there were those who doubted the manna would be there for them the following day. So they gathered more than they needed only to find that by the next day the manna they had hoarded was as moldy as the leftovers in the back of my refrigerator. They failed to remember that God was also known as Provider. (Jehovah Jireh to some)
Jesus reminded us of this as he was teaching us to pray. He instructed us to ask only for our daily bread… just one day’s provision at a time. He also admonishes us in Matthew chapter six. Jesus said we so want to borrow trouble from tomorrow. Yet we need to be reminded that we should let tomorrow worry about itself, because today has enough worries of its own.
We may face some difficulties as we get used to a new system of healthcare, but we might also find that many are afforded hope when before they thought there was none. All I know for sure is, in His infinite wisdom, God has us safely in His mighty hands. I can almost feel them on my face now… Can you?