Sing, Sing a Song... (by Carolyn)

This week I visited a friend who is in the hospital with a very serious, life threatening condition. She is terribly weak and weary, but is still able to enjoy a quiet visit and seems to appreciate them very much.

When I arrived she was asleep. I pulled up a chair alongside of her and listened as she slept. I read my Bible, preparing a story, or a Psalm she might like to hear when she woke up. As she slept, she whispered, "Missy, help me. " Silence. Sleep. "Dr. Rubin, help me." Silence. Sleep. These were not panicky cries. They were soft, quiet, intoning sighs.

As I watched, her eyes fluttered open and focused on me. When she recognized me, she said, "Oh, Carolyn, thank you for coming. Please help me." I leaned close to her ear and asked how I might help. Did she need water? A nurse? Could I hold her hand? "Oh, dear one, how can I help you?" When she didn't respond, I said, "A friend gave me a song to sing to you. I'm going to sing!" I began singing as softly as I could directly into her ear. I sang again and again, "Father, we are here. We feel Your presence drawing us nearer. Your face is suddenly clearer than all the world surrounding." I silently thanked my friend for giving it to me. When I finished that one, I sang another and another and another. Hospital aides, nurses, even a doctor came and went, and still I sang. After each song she said, "Oh, that was so beautiful. Sing another."

As her nurse was tending to her, the phone rang. When she heard it was her roommate, Tara, from the nursing home, she took a deep breath, looked skyward for a minute and summoned up the strength to take the call. Her roommate needed help. Over and over again she said, "It's going to be alright. The Lord will straighten all these things out for you eventually. It doesn't matter how difficult the circumstances, you must trust Him, for there's nothing you can do. Trust Him. It will be alright. I love you." Exhausted, she let the phone slip out of her hand as she fell back on the pillow.

Taking her hand in mine, I told her what an amazing witness she was to me, to the nurse, to her friend. In the mids't of her own debilitating weakness God had made her strong enough to help another, glorifying Him to others. We prayed and worshiped God for Who He is. We gave thanks, confessed our sin and begged for His help and protection.

"Let the Lord read His word to us." she said. "Let Him choose whatever He would like us to hear." That meant I was to open my Bible randomly. We opened to 2 Corinthians 5. "Now, we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile, we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling..." "Tell Tara," she said. "Tell Tara."

The time was coming for me to leave her. We sang "Amazing Grace" together. On my way then, to "tell Tara" I thought of another song. It was written in 1971 for Sesame Street. I pray many people will overcome silly shyness, or false pride when visiting a friend in need, take heed and sing! "Sing, sing a song. Sing out loud. Sing out strong. Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear, just sing, sing a song! Just sing...sing a song!" AMEN!