Room With a View

The story goes (as told in my words) that there were two strangers sharing a hospital room. This was well before private rooms and “personal space” were incorporated into the wellness part of recovery. A simple curtain divided the two men.

The stranger by the window would tell his roommate what he saw happening in the street below – specifically the park. He painted, with words, beautiful images of trees, people talking, parades, and traffic going by. He spoke of picnics and family reunions. A soldier’s proposal of marriage on the bench in the middle of the park.

His moment-by-moment descriptions became a type of medicine for the roommate. The stories were something he looked forward to. Comforting. Encouraging. Interesting.  UNTIL this thought slipped its way into the roommate’s heart…

“Why does HE get the side with the view and not me?”

Consumed with the thought, bitterness soon crept in. Resentful. Envious. The negative emotions eventually evolved into hatred.

He rejected the stories. No conversation. No fellowship. No balm to sooth his spirit as he had experienced before. No more friendship.

After his roommate died, the gentleman in the bed by the door had a revelation. He demanded and insisted on moving to the bed by the window. At LAST he would get the “room with a view!”

Expectantly, he looked with anticipation as the curtain separated to reveal his prior roommate’s bed…the scenic window he had heard SO much about! He felt like he already knew the park, he had heard so much about it.

He looked out! The window faced a brick wall.

Proverbs 14:30 (KJV)  A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

Look UP my friends!