After a year of rehabilitation from polio at Hedgecroft Hospital, I returned home. My condition had improved. But, I had persistent respiratory infections and bouts of pneumonia. Several times a year Mom lathered my chest with Vick’s Vapor Rub and put a T-Shirt on me at bedtime. How many of you had moms or dads who did that to you?
If my chest cold worsened, Mom set up a vaporizer at the head of my bed to try to open up my chest and to ease my breathing.
Especially when I was sick, I said evening prayers for God to watch over me and to cure what ailed me. Thankfully, God’s love did not act alone. It is delivered to others, like me, through the service of God’s living angels as my mother, Lucile.
Several times when I was struggling to breathe at home and running a fever, I woke up. I had the feeling someone was watching over me. I rolled over in my bed and faced the bedroom door. In the darkness I saw Mom looking down at the watch in her hand. The next thing I knew, Mom and Dad came into my room and said, “Bubba, we are taking you to the hospital now.”
Mom and Dad immediately took me to Hedgecroft Hospital. As soon as I was placed in a bed, the staff attached a Monahan Respirator on my chest to breathe for me, to rest my breathing muscles, so that my energy and resources was used to fight pneumonia.
Sometime later I realized what Mom was doing looking at the watch as she stood in the doorway to my bedroom. Dr. Montgomery asked Mom to monitor my breathing at night. If I was taking more than 28 breaths per minute, I needed to get to the hospital for respiratory support and care.
Although Mom had faith God was watching over me, she knew God would not act alone to protect me, to monitor my breathing, and to take me to the hospital. Like many of your devoted parents, Mom did not just pray to God. Mom did not say, “I will just leave it to You, God, to take care of Bubba tonight.” Or say, “I am so tired. Surely, it will be ok if I just get some rest tonight. I’ve got to take care of myself too.”
Because of Mom’s watchfulness while God watched over me, I made it through the serious respiratory infections polio caused. The watchful eyes in all of us see the light of God in every one of us.
God has spoken to us in Scripture about being watchful.
Psalm 59:9
Because of his strength I will watch for You,
For God is my stronghold.
Proverbs 4:23
Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.
Let us pray together.
Dear God, please watch over me and those I love when I cannot be present with them.
God, please give me the wisdom and strength to watch over those who need my care and comfort as You have cared for and comforted me.
God, I give thanks to You and all Your angels who have bent over me and reflected on my dark paths Your love and light. Amen
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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.