Goldfish in a Bowl

         I always dress up for Halloween.  I have fun trying to come up with something new an exciting every year.  The main reason I do dress up though is to entertain my patients.  I am a dialysis technician and my patients have to come in for their treatment three days a week for 3 to 4 hours at a time.  Needless to say, I spend a lot of time with them and get to know them well.  They are like family to me.  So Halloween is just a day when I can put something crazy on and know that I can get a smile out of them!  

     Last year, I dressed up as spaghetti and meatballs.  I've been a gypsy, an avon lady, a frumpy housewife, a green crayon.  It really is hard to remember all of them.  Anyway, this year, one day when I was not in the greatest of   moods, it occurred to me that I felt like a goldfish in a bowl.  I have to walk amongst nine patients and assorted technicians, doctors, nurses and support staff and maintain a professional and "happy" attitude.  Boy is that hard sometimes.  I am in this glass bowl and everybody sees me and what kind of mood I am in.  And being the kind of person who wears their heart on their sleeve I am not always very good at pretending to be in a good mood when I am not.  However, I do my best.  Sometimes I just simply tell the patients I am having a rough day.  I carry on and usually there is someone there who can lift me up out of a bad mood.  So I thought that I shall be a goldfish for Halloween this year and set to work finding orange and gold items to assemble it!

     It occurred to me that as a Child of God, it doesn't matter where I am or where any of us are.  We are all kind of like a goldfish in a bowl for all the world to see.  What kind of fish do I want all those around me to be seeing?  Hopefully I will be showing others a side of me that is kind, compassionate, loving and full of joy.

In Matthew chapter 5, it says; "You are the light that gives light to the world.  A city that is built on a hill cannot be hidden.  And people don't hide a lamp under a bowl.  They put the light on a lamp stand.  Then the light shines for all the people in the house( or in my case; in the dialysis unit).  In the same way, you ( I ) should be a light for other people.  Live so that they will see the good things you do.  Live so that they will praise your Father in heaven!  Matthew 5: 14-16  Hopefully, I do that for the patients I take care of and the people I work with.  With the help of my Father, I can. There is always room for improvement.  But with God all things are possible!