I’ve been thinking about blood transfusions today. My dear friend in southern California has been texting me asking prayer for her granddaughter who wound up in the ICU. Due to the serious nature of the medical emergency, her granddaughter received multiple blood transfusions.
This led me to think how that my friend who just had complex spine surgery also received several blood transfusions.
During the actual surgery she was given two blood transfusions; then later in the week, as she was recovering in the hospital, she received one more.
I have never been around a blood transfusion before, so I found the whole experience fascinating. In a very serious double-check, the nurse read off all the data points from my friend’s information, while her co-worker held the bag of blood and verified each data point. Then the nurse got everything hooked up, and the bag of blood started dripping into my friend’s IV.
I couldn’t help but wonder how many different people were represented in that bag of blood.
How many people had donated their blood … which my friend was now receiving.
Both hubby and my daughter have donated blood during blood-drive events in the past. I know when you donate blood they take a lot. As I looked at that bag of blood my friend was receiving, that was a lot more than just a few people could have donated.
I wondered about each person. What were they like? They had their own lives, with their own troubles and worries. They had their own fears. They had their own struggles.
And now, in my friend’s time of need, all these unknown people were giving my friend the chance at life.
This thought blew me away.
Deep down inside I couldn’t help but ask God that when I get to Heaven could I please meet these people who had given their blood so that my friend could have life. Please God, could I see what these people were like and thank them.
Tying in with this thought, two days ago hubby and I watched the most recent Yes Theory video … where the Yes Theory team traveled to Syria shortly after the fall of the old regime this past December 2024. They traveled there with Syrian friends who had formerly fled.
It is hard to put into words the devastation which has been poured out on the Syrian people. No wonder so many Syrians have fled! No wonder there are so many Syrian refugees around the world.
The Yes Theory team drove with their Syrian friend back to the area just outside Damascus where she had grown up. It was utter devastation! The amount of destruction and loss of life represented was hard for hubby and me to even comprehend as we watched it. Buildings for miles decimated by bombings. Building for miles in nothing but rubble. Devoid of life; devoid of people. It looked like something from a movie, created with digital effects. But this was real life.
How can people treat their fellow humans this way?!?
This Syrian friend pointed up to a building in total rubble and very matter-of-factly said: “That used to be my home right there. My brother was standing on the balcony right there when he was killed by a mortar.”
In another place where they stopped, she got out and stood in front of a building in rubble and said: “This used to be my grandparents’ home. The only way I was able to recognize it was by this tree here, which my grandpa planted.”
Always in the past, whenever I’ve pondered the statement from Scripture “Love is not easily angered” I’ve thought of it simply as: Don’t lose your temper. Don’t be harsh and mean and rude to others.
But looking at the terrible atrocities done to the Syrian people by the former dictatorial regime, that is what anger does.
Anger is awful! Anger is horrible!
Anger does atrocities to our fellow human beings which should not be done.
We are all of one blood.
We have the same blood flowing through us.
We are all the same.
God created the very first man at the beginning of all time … and all of our blood for all of humanity descended from that very first man.
People destroy each other because of differences.
Differences in ethnicities.
Differences in race.
Differences in appearance.
Differences in religious beliefs.
But we are all of one blood. We are all the same.
Love is not easily angered.
Anger makes us do horrible things to our fellow humankind. Anger makes us hate people who have the same blood flowing through them as we have flowing through us: people who have their own hopes and dreams. People who have their own troubles and worries. People who have their own fears and struggles.
We are all one blood. We can help our fellow humankind so that they can have life … just like the unknown many people who donated their blood so that my friend could have a chance at life.
God knows who they each are whose blood is now flowing through my friend’s veins.
God knows each one.
And in the same way, as we spend our life to pour love and kindness into our fellow humankind, God knows. God knows each act of kindness – which breathes life into our fellow human. God knows each act of forgiveness. God knows each act of compassion.
God knows each one.
Anger destroys. Anger utterly destroys those who have our same blood.
Love is not easily angered.
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” – James 1:19-20
“A wise person keeps themselves under control.” – Proverbs 29:11
“A person of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a person of understanding is even-tempered.” – Proverbs 17:27
“Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.” – Ecclesiastes 7:9
(As an aside – in case you are curious, here is the Yes Theory video mentioned above: 80 Hours in a Failed Dictatorship – YouTube )
