"We brought you something today," Linda told me.
Linda was a patient of mine, who while she was eighty years old, still stayed very active working in her garden. Her daughter, who was sitting next to her, handed me a bag.
"Oh, wow!" I exclaimed, opening it. "They're beautiful!" And beautiful they were. For, they had brought me three eggplants. Whether or not you like to eat them, eggplants are a very pretty vegetable (although I just read that technically they are actually a fruit).
"Thank you so much," I told them both.
It is not unusual that patients of mine bring me in produce from their gardens or, candy and cookies at Christmas time. One family even gave me some (very snazzy) Christmas socks one year.
I often wonder what folks in big cities bring their family doctors? I can't imagine, but I have a feeling that it doesn't happen very often in urban areas.
The thing is that while I don't really need these things, I know how much work goes into getting vegetables to the point of harvest. Even more than that, it is a gesture that tells me that my patients appreciate me and the things I do.
I am afraid that this idea is lost for many people. Even though a person is "just doing their job," they still need an encouraging word now and then -- something to let them know that they have been noticed and appreciated.
It isn't easy to do this. It's a whole lot easier to find fault than to remember to compliment a job well done. At the same time, we have no idea what a difference it will make to someone else's day.
It is just like a couple of eggplants given to a doctor on a busy afternoon. It is something small, but somehow the doctor smiled a lot more after that.
Reach out.
Notice someone.
Encourage them.
They will be blessed and you will be too.
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