Raucous Family

By Lauri Lemke Thompson

 “Do not judge or you too will be judged.” Matthew 7:1 (NIV).

These people were loud. I was working at the busy check-in desk of a medical clinic, where as a volunteer I often struggled to carry on conversations with our patients even when there was minimal background noise. Quite a few patients were elderly and had less than perfect hearing. Then there was me: my own hearing was not stellar either. Thus, my first reaction that morning was aggravation.

The group of five had drawn the attention of everyone in the large waiting area. I wasn’t the only one giving them—well, dirty looks.

I dress a lot nicer than that for my medical appointments, I thought. My husband and I would never speak that loudly in a medical waiting room. I was even so uncharitable as to think that these folks had never been taught basic manners.

When I had an interlude from my busyness, I was able to observe the noisemakers a bit more. I realized they were providing moral support to a lady in her 70’s who was undergoing a battery of pre-admission tests for surgery. Since they made no effort to keep their conversations private, here was the deal: Mom (or Grandma to some of them) needed to go through these tests and then this operation, and there was absolutely no way that this family was going to allow her to face any of it alone, even for one minute. 

“I’m here until twelve and then I’ll go to work. You will take over at noon and then Billy’s coming in at three,” I heard. All arrangements were hashed out with great cheerfulness, and I detected no hint of obligation in their conversation. In fact, they were having a grand old time together, jabbing one another and dissolving in laughter every few minutes. If the patient had any trepidation about her testing or surgery, she had no time to dwell on it with this crowd around.

As it all played out in front of me, my attitude changed. I was no longer irritated. I was instead overcome by a surprise emotion: extreme envy.

If the time comes for me to have major surgery, I thought, I would love to have family members and/or friends doting over me, scheduling time to spend with me, and arguing over who gets to stay with me. In this society when unselfish caring seems woefully absent, simple down-home family love was on display here. Perhaps they should have tamed the borderline rowdiness, but I eventually gave them a lot of credit for surrounding the family matriarch in her time of need. Yes, I was humbled, and I was green. And not in the environmental sense. 

Then I remembered the Bible’s admonishment not to judge others. Plus, after all, weren’t they a prime example of “Honor your father and mother…”? Exodus 20:12 (NKJV) That they were honoring Mom was abundantly clear. And, unfortunately, so was my arrogant judgmental attitude. I am sorry, God. Help me do better next time. 

A Wisconsin native, Lauri Lemke Thompson appreciates living in the lovely Ozark mountains in Branson, Missouri. She is active in Christian Women’s Connection (Stonecroft) and the Ozarks Chapter of the American Christian Writers. Her two books, Hitting Pause and Pressing Forward, are collections of her columns, articles and devotions. Her bimonthly column appears in the Branson Globe newspaper.