Journal: it still needs to be Monday

Friday is knocking at the door and yet, for a number of,reasons, I need it still to .be Monday!

Today was a day which started badly, got a lot better with our Communion service, and then disappeared into a strange miasma before returning to something like normality as th day began to draw to a close. So many of the visits I had planned fell away due to ill-health on the part of the person being visited and this provided me with the chance to step back and have some time for myself and some reading and research.

At the moment where I am it seems that the mental health needs are on the rise and yet the mental health support structure seems are crumbling. Last night I found myself at bedsides and in Accident and Emergency (A&E), where the focus was purely medical, and the wards were well and effectively ordered and the workload, thanks to staffing levels, high. Upon entering AE the scene before me was a bit like some of the training I've done where some wicked so and so cranks up the pressure as we deal with increasing high volumes of people coming through the doors for treatment.

From the quiet and steadily organised ward I opened a door and found a scene before me that would have been fitting for any major incident: Every cubicle was full and every available space was utilised as a makeshift trolley bay. Wherever you looked there were people on trolleys, in wheelchairs, sitting on haphazardly placed seats and the movement was never ending; and all the time more people were being added! My mind flipped back to a twenty-four hour training event where eventually every available person found themselves with a job and yet there was still ore need that we could cope with and wondered if someone ought to blow a whittle and call the reality before me to an end as the trainers had for us. But no, it was only 19:30 and so it would be a long time before those on duty go to stand down.

So tonight I'm reflecting on, and praying for, those who keep our hospitals running.

I'm praying for those who have medical needs, that they would find healing, understanding and care.

Lord, bring at our healing: Bring Your strength and comfort for those who care for loved ones in their need.

Help me to show your love and to stand in the gap where possible and to accept where it is not with grace and acceptance rather than dogged and misplaced endeavour.