How unfiling led to counting

Today, I unfiled. Is that even a word? Well, its a word now! I volunteered today at Arkansas Children's Hospital. They assigned me to a department of the hospital that we have not visited (and hope we never do!). My task was to take a list of names and unfile the charts for those patients because they have not been patients for a while now and need to be archived...or something along those lines anyway. So, see, I wasn't really retrieving files...I was unfiling them!

I was there for several hours. The files are in alpahbetical order by last name. I started with "A"...and made it only to the "Ch's". While I stood there looking at the mass amount of files, it occurred to me that this is only one department...and look at all these kids they have treated. Given, some kids may have only come for a one time consultation and not needed any further care. However, some of those files were super thick and it doesn't take a genius to know that the thicker the filed...well, you get the point. And once again, I found myself caught off guard by the magnitude of impact that this hospital has. Its just freaking astounding and stupifying all at once.

While waiting for my "assignment" to come retrieve me from volunteer services, I joked with them about how we are familiar with cardiology, urology, the ER twice, and several visits to the after hours GPC clinic.

The file room was quiet. It was just me and a temp working in there and the temp was busy listening to his mp3 player while he kept busy. The work I was doing wasn't a fast paced task. Its not meant to be. You don't want to pull/archive the wrong file! I was forced to slow down to a pace that eluded me on most days. I was even able to find a blessing in that...and I am pretty sure that I heard a gasp of relief flow from my brain.

While I was filing, I was reminded of our blessings. I need to count them more often. While at one point life threatening, Kale's heart condition has been treatable. He was only briefly a urology patient. There are so many kids who visit that hospital so frequently that they know the lay of the land there. They are patients in multiple clinics. They know more medical terminology that some first year med students. Once again, God reminded me to count my blessings, reminded me of what is most important, and humbled me all in one moment.

When I left, I thanked them for the opportunity to help. I think it befuddled them a bit.