Five Minutes from a Miracle

The following is from a true story.

An elderly woman was taken to an emergency room and then was subsequently admitted to the hospital. During the admission process, she carefully removed her wedding ring, an anniversary ring and a pearl bracelet and handed her jewelry over to her son.

There is no question the sentimental and emotionally attachment to her jewelry was more valuable to her than the appraised value. She wanted to make sure these very special mementos of a life and a marriage filled with love, happiness and tenderness would be protected.

Her son, not wanting to scar or damage his mother’s precious heirlooms, carefully placed the items in a rubber surgical glove before placing them in his pocket.

Upon returning home later that evening after a long day at the hospital, the son was horrified to discover the glove was missing from his pocket. He assumed it had fallen out while helping to get his mother settled into her hospital room.

The son knew his mother would take the news very hard and become very upset, and perhaps be a deterrent to her recovery. Instead, the man contacted the hospital to see if the rings and bracelet had turned-up in their lost and found department.

No luck. However, during the process of looking for the glove, a janitor came forward to state he had seen a glove that looked like it might have had something in it, but only thought it was trash and proceeded to throw the glove away.

Immediately, the hospital called the sanitation company that was contracted to remove the trash. The company reported the truck had indeed left the hospital and drove directly to the city’s landfill.

The son, a couple of family members, and the janitor all descended upon the landfill. The janitor was confident he would remember the bag of trash containing the invaluable surgical glove.

The son brought a video camera to record their actions as testimony to his mother of the effort and diligence they invested in attempting to recover her jewelry.

The truck carrying a day’s load of refuse had just made its deposit and the driver directed the hopeful recovery team to the exact spot. The group was united with a common cause, a purpose – find the jewelry that represented a lifetime.

The excitement of knowing the bag was somewhere to be found soon waned as the minutes turned into hours. The back-breaking work of bending over and combing through a seemingly endless supply of discarded, used and worthless items was tedious and discouraging. The janitor, however, was relentless. He kept telling the son and the other family members not to give up, because they were only five minutes from a miracle.

The son was growing more anxious and despondent by the minute. He knew that when his mother felt stronger, she would ask about her beloved jewelry. He did not want to disappoint someone who had given him so much.

The janitor, sensing the son’s anxiety, reminded him there were only five minutes from a miracle. The son, his family and the janitor kept looking.

With the moon beginning to fall in the sky, the night was slowly turning into morning. No glove or jewelry was to be found. No hope either. The video camera had just churned through the last back-up battery. The son was ready to shut it down, to quit, to give up.

The janitor kept shifting through the trash. Undaunted and unaware of the hours invested, he continued looking for a woman’s past because he would want someone to do the same for him someday. The connection to the human spirit sustained and motivated him to keep looking.

The son approached him and encouraged the janitor to end the fight. He did not; the janitor knew he was only five minutes from a miracle. As the group retreated, the son was sweeping away the trash with the toe of his boot as he walked dejectedly away from the pile of garbage when the janitor saw it. He immediately recognized it and knew the treasure it contained.

The janitor’s eyes said it all. The son knew this was it. He reached down and carefully opened the glove. The rings and bracelet, still glistering even after being buried under tons of trash, radiated hope and thanksgiving.

Miracles, but no free passes

In this story, we are all reminded of how invaluable hope and faith can be in our lives. It is our actions, our free will, that determine our course in life, but hope serves as the fuel to sustain us through the difficult times.

Five minutes from a miracle does not suggest we just sit back and do nothing. It doesn’t give us the privilege to indulge in destructive behavior, because, “who cares, I just five minutes from a miracle and will be rescued.”

No, we are defined by the choices we make, not by what happens to us. In this story, the miracle happens because the janitor puts himself in the position for the miracle to happen. He kept working, moving forward and believing. He didn’t wait for something or someone else to do it for him; he did it himself.

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