Wednesday’s chemo treatment was a little harder than usual. The nurses had trouble accessing my port, but after several painful pokes, they finally did. As I sat there, I found myself thinking about that small device.
A port is designed to both draw blood out and deliver life-giving medicine in. They draw blood for needed labs, and then they infuse the meds ordered for each visit. It’s a two-way connection. A place of giving and receiving.
And isn’t that what we’re called to in life, too?
Sometimes the giving or the receiving stings. Sometimes it costs us something. But even when it hurts, the flow matters, because both directions are needed to keep us alive.
Sometimes we are the ones giving: offering encouragement, prayers, a meal, a listening ear.
Other times we are the ones receiving: letting someone else carry us when we are too weary to stand alone.
This rhythm matters even more in today’s climate, when it feels like anger drives us all to our corners.
What if, instead, we chose to give love instead of more anger, understanding instead of judgment, a bridge instead of a wall, just like my sweet Jimmy always used to say?
It isn’t weakness to need both. In fact, the flow of both directions is what keeps us intact, connected, and whole.
𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆.
I am grateful for the people who allow me to pour into them, and for those who pour into me—friends, family, even kind strangers.
This journey reminds me daily that we are meant to give and to receive.
Both are holy.
And maybe, just maybe, that is how the bridges get built.
“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.”
~ 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞
“Bear each other’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
~ 𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝟔:𝟐