National Visitation Day
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a word about those who are shut in.
You may not know this, but earlier this month was National Shut-In Visitation Day. I know that’s not a very fashionable word – being a shut-in – but when was being isolated from the rest of the world ever fashionable, right? Believe me, I’ve been there, and it is hard. A shut-in is a person who is not able to leave his or her home. This causes a person to feel lonely, isolated, sad, cut off from the rest of the world. Sometimes shut-ins do not have family and friends available to visit and spend time with them. They often lack any kind of companionship.
We often take for granted our freedom to be able to go outside each day, go to work, eat lunch at a restaurant or in a park, work out at the gym or take a vacation. These are the things that people who are shut-in can’t experience. A visit with them would really brighten their day. I know. I remember when I was in bed for a whole summer trying to heal a pressure sore. The first month, there were cards and visitors. But by the second and third month, I felt like the four walls in my room were closing in. It’s why I’m so in tune with people who are shut-ins. I know three individuals who are totally bedridden – these are not elderly people; they have spouses, they are young, and they live at home. But chronic pain has so debilitated these three friends, that their entire lives are spent in bed.
There’s a shut-in talked about in the Bible. Mark Chapter 2, verses 3,4 says, “Some men came, bringing to [Jesus] a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.” Well, the four friends of the paralyzed man did more than carry the stretcher, right? Maybe they arrived early at their friend’s house to help him get ready – you know, get bathed, dressed, sit up. When the group arrived at the home where Jesus was teaching, they probably stopped and surveyed the scene. Going through the crowd wouldn’t work; they had to come up with an alternate plan of action. Eyeing the stairs up the side of the house to the roof, they realized, that’s it! Persistence paid off. A ripped-up roof certainly got Jesus’ attention, but the four friends — their faith, creativity, and commitment — probably drew more attention. There were four guys who cared, I mean really cared, about their shut-in friend.
Thomas Crawford* wrote:
Would you be my stretcher bearers,
When I can no longer stand?
Would you each pick up a corner of my pallet in your hand?
This burden’s just too heavy,
I find I cannot bear Its pain, its grief, its sorrow;
and so I chance to dare —
To ask if you would carry me through valleys dark and wide;
Then set me safely down again where peace and hope abide.
God said His yoke was easy and His burden would be light;
That’s surely why He sent you each to lead me through the night.
And now I just lift others and the burdens they may bring;
I’ll be a stretcher bearer carrying wounded for the King.
Oh, friend, would you please bear the burden of someone today; ask God to show you a stretcher you can “help carry”. Visit a person who is shut-in, maybe due to age or disability, and brighten their day. And tell us about it on our Joni and Friends’ Facebook page where we will post this poem that I just shared with you. I tell you what, it’s a way you can encourage others and then we can pass your encouragement on to those who need help most! Thanks for listening today on Joni and Friends.
*The audio file erroneously states Bev Engledinger is the author of the poem; the poem’s author is Thomas Crawford.
© Joni and Friends
