Bear Fruit
This article recounts how a healthcare provider and her friend confronted the challenges of the COVID era and established the ME Zone. Overwhelmed by stress, they yearned for a sanctuary to unwind, relax, and escape the harsh realities. This "zone" became their refuge, where they could be themselves, find solace, and share joy, peace, and tranquility. It served as a haven where they experienced God's soothing grace, offering hope that others could also find comfort in His presence.
Ela Rada
4/29/20243 min read
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the father in my name, he may give it to you.
It was at the height of COVID! I was going home feeling beaten and exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. We were all apprehensive. We faced suffering and death. Every day adrenaline washed over us, firing their movements.
The news broadcast said there was no time to bury the dead. Mortuary and funeral home operators could not handle the number of bodies. Hospitals had to rent semi-truck freezers to accommodate corpses that cannot be preserved in the morgues. Several Code blues (a term generally used to indicate that a patient must be resuscitated or needs immediate attention because of respiratory or cardiac arrest) blared out 15-minutes into a 12-hour shift and after that was a blur of activity.
The frustration and the longing of the relatives to be with their family were an added and constant strain on us.
Fear enveloped us when we entered a covid room. Dressed in prayers and suffocating Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), we were anxious for our sakes and for the sake of our families at home.
The ERs and hospital hallways were packed. For every discharged patient, ten patients were in the queue. There was no time for meals or for potty breaks.
We could bring the bug home and infect a family member. We were constantly sanitizing any single object that we took to and brought home from the hospital. After a whole day in PPEs, the skin behind our ears and nose bridges were red from chafing. We undressed, showered and stowed hospital things in the garage before entering our homes. Some of us even slept in our garages to protect our loved ones.
Stress ate us up. Thus, the desire for a place to unwind, relax, get pampered and forget was born.
During our chats where we encouraged and exchanged experiences with each other, we came up with “me-time”. A time to “let go and just be”. However, “me” sounded too selfish, too greedy, too self-indulgent and ungracious.
Coincidentally, our initials were “M” and “E”. “ME”- Zone is also a place where we can be ourselves; a place of our own; most importantly, it is a place where we can share joy, peace and tranquility.
A place where we can share God’s soothing grace. As He soothed “ME”, He can soothe you too.
About the author:
Ela is employed as a nurse at a Palm Springs, California hospital, devotes herself to caring for others while embodying Christian principles. Her fondness for spas is apparent in her choice to establish her own business. As a self-empowered individual, her aspiration is to aid others through her unique approach, a belief mirrored in the ethos of ME Zone Spa and Massage.
