This 2025 Christmas season my wife, Paulette, and I both feel very blessed; we’re in fairly good health, busy, and involved in interesting activities.  As usual for Christmas time there are too many events squeezed into too short a period; nevertheless, we’re enjoying every single one of them. We were very blessed last Christmas as well, but the circumstances were very different.

            I had knee replacement surgery on December 23, 2024 (when there’s a surgical opening, you take it).  The next morning, a nurse came into my room and said, “Is your wife in room 5112?”  What a surprise! I learned that the evening before Paulette had experienced intense abdominal and chest pain. She had called 911 and had been taken to the hospital in an ambulance with what turned out to be an intestinal blockage; she would be in the hospital for the next five days.  As a result, we both spent last Christmas day in the hospital.  Today, we’re both doing well, and we’re very grateful to all the doctors, nurses, aides, and the loving God who cared for us.

            Our real Blessings last Christmas, however, came through the actions of other people.  On Christmas morning, and then again in the afternoon, nurses wheeled each of us to the other’s room so that we could spend Christmas together. It wasn’t the way we planned, but it was wonderful to spend Christmas together.  On Christmas Eve my surgeon came to my room. He expressed concern about our situation, and after warning me about the risk of a fall, he said that he was going to let me go home (instead of a rehab facility) even though I was going to be home alone.  His office had arranged for a nurse to visit daily, until Paulette returned home. Because of our situation, he had already ordered another day in the hospital for me. Our neighbors, Larry and Debbie, came to take me home, but Larry measured and found that I wouldn’t fit in his car with my leg in an immobilizer from ankle to thigh. They went ahead and prepared the house and walker for me, and left some food. Fortunately, the nurses were able to find a medical transport company available to take me home on Christmas night. I couldn’t leave the house, but our friends Carol and Randy visited Paulette in the hospital, took her home five days later, and also left some food.  What a fountain of Blessings!

            I think this story is typical of the way God shows His unconditional love for US by giving us His Blessings. They are often delivered by others! In return we need to be open to his urging and be responsible for seeing that others receive His Blessings through us.

Jim