The Quiet place.

Every once in a while you want to carry on through the corridor ,stroddle the two steps onto the bridge but stop just ten yards before the cafeteria into a heavy door on the wall which reads ‘Quiet room’.In the action filled acute medicine setting it helps to spend a portion of your lunch break beyond that wooden door.It is a chapel of sorts,a room to be exact.Carpetted but with very sparse furniture.A lectern with a bible,a side table which holds church addresses,brochures for church activities,small booklets on various subjects like bereivement,etc.

As you scour the place what really strikes you is the board .It has flaps of tiny hand-written prayer requests,cards ..people who have just poured their hearts out to ‘you will not believe ,who?’.It is letters to Jesus.

One of them reads , ‘Dear Lord Jesus,please be with my eighty year old mother who is having a hip replacement.She has never been to a hospital before.Please look after her and help her to heal.’Sam

Another one reads,’Dear Jesus,I have lost my son John to a road traffic accident and it is extremely difficult for me and especially my wife to understand why this has happened.Please help us as we go through this sad time.Please help my mother who is devastated by this loss.I feel helpless.’James Thomas.

‘Dear Jesus,my wife and I have been blessed with a tiny baby girl who decided to be born premature.She is fighting to breathe well and in an incubator.Please keep her safe. Love Jerry.

Dear Jesus,I want to thank you for blessing my sister with a lovely baby girl.I love U.Tabitha .

Then there are others addressed to God.

Dear God ,I lost my temper with the staff in the ward no ...today.I thought they were careless in the way they handled my son’s linen.Please help me not to get angry with them and help me to forgive them.I am sorry.Rita.

Dear God ,Thank you,thank you thank you..so much........for looking after Herbert through the difficult surgery.Muah .....Liz.

I kneel down on the carpet and say a prayer for Liz,Rita,Tabitha,Jerry,James and Sam.