Sands of Time

Have you wondered how much sand is in your hour glass of life? Every second, the sands of time of your life slip away. How much have you made each handful count?

I received word this morning that my grandpa has taken a turn for the worse. I sit here and ponder as I pray. What is it like to be nearing the end? Do you know when the last drops of sand are about to fall? Can u see the hour-glass of your life and know you have but a few drops left? When the last grain falls...

I pray Grandpa that God gives u a little more time. I wish I could have spent more time with you. I hope you know how much all of us love you to pieces...

Autumn

There is beauty even in death...

Outside in the cold crisp air with the drizzling rain, I looked down the streets of my home. The trees had turned a golden red and lined the street in their new attire. The coldness invigorates and the wind plays with your hair and caresses your cheeks, whispering secrets of the world. Their leaves scatter on the ground like a golden red carpet welcoming you.

The rich colours and quiet stillness is reminiscent of a person's life just before he dies...mature, rich with experience, and the best of nature's beauty is revealed. A symbol that all things can come to an end and start anew.

There is nothing more that I love than embracing that solitude where things of life are far away at the back of my mind. Where all that matters is the breath that fills my lungs and the steady steps of my feet. My mind is blisfully blank and for awhile....the world is perfect... where reality is far away and the world is yours to weave to your imagination.

A gift

Have you wondered what your gift was to the world? What has God set you on your path for? You have a purpose. You were created for a reason. You somehow know in the depths of your heart that your destiny awaits.

As a surgeon, you have the gift of blessed hands. Hands that close wounds. Hands that tie off bleeding arteries. Hands that save a life. Its a tremendous gift. A gift that comes with its own hefty price no doubt.

But would you give up your gift? Would you stand aside and let your gift go to waste?

I live for my patients. I live to learn to one day have that ability to save a life. I find the greatest pleasure in knowing I have made a difference in a life - even if it was just a "pretty" wound. A wound alone is a battlescar and a proof that your hands have been there. Its our personal mark, signature if you will, on another person's life. So yes, I will close every wound with a little more care and to the best of my ability no matter how small.


But the greatest gift of all is just being their doctor.

Its hard when patients are handed the death sentence and as a surgeon you can no longer help and you stand helplessly. Watching and feeling the inevitableness of mortality. When you feel like your hands are tied. You can still give a gift.

You can care. Don't scurry away from the door of your perceived failure to save a life. Walk in and be a friend. And it amazes me time and again how a simple act of empathy bonds us. Sometimes, no words are required. A kind word. A shake of a hand. A pat on the back. A smile. A minute can make all the difference.

Everything you do each day can be a gift unto others. Surgery and its awesomeness. Medicine and its awesomeness. Love and its awesomeness. Humanity and its awesomeness.

If I could

If I could take your hand and run away.
If I could catch the breeze and send it your way.
If I could hold a star in the palm of my hand.
If I could let go of the world and gaze heavenwards.
If I could hear the symphony of raindrops and laugh.
If I could feel the trees whisper sweet nothings.
If I could stand on top of a mountain and hold the serenity in a jar.
If I could be at the seaside at night hearing waves crash upon rock with the salty sea spray.
If I could give you my heart, in all its fragility, to hold.
If I could be lost in a moment...and hold it there forever...