I know a hand surgeon who specializes in reattaching fingers that have been
partially or completely severed in accidents. When he enters the operating room,
he knows he will be squinting into a microscope for six to eight hours, sorting
out and stitching together the snarl of nerves, tendons, and blood vessels finer
than human hairs. A single mistake, and the patient may permanently lose
movement or sensation. He cannot take a coffee break or even a bathroom break.
Once my friend got an emergency call at three o'clock in the morning and could
hardly face the prospect of beginning such an arduous procedure. In order to add
incentive and focus, he decided to dedicate the surgery to his father who had
recently died. For the next few hours, he imagined his father standing beside
him, his hand on his shoulder, offering encouragement.
The technique worked so well that he began dedicating his surgeries to people he
knew. He would call them, often awakening them, and say, "I have a very
demanding procedure ahead of me, and I'd like to dedicate the surgery to you. If
I think about you while I'm performing it, that will help me get through." And
then it dawned on him: should not he offer his life to God in the same way? The
details of what he did each day-answering phone calls, hiring staff, reading
medical journals, meeting with patients, scheduling surgeries-changed little,
yet somehow the awareness of living for God gradually colored each of those
mundane tasks He found himself treating nurses with more care and respect,
spending more time with patients, worrying less about finances.
Yancey, Philip. Reaching for the Invisble God. Grand Rapids, Zondervan
Publishing House, 2000, p. 82-83.
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