This is a saying that used to always make me giggle. Mostly because I always picture the people I have seen in front of the monkey cage at the zoo. Making silly faces and doing funny things trying to make the monkeys imitate them. You probably have seen those people too! But the bottom line is that the monkeys weren't ever interested in what that person in front of his cage was doing. They watch for a while( as if to get their own giggles in) but then casually walk away to follow another monkey. Thats when the saying really has meaning because inevitablly when two or more are together they are off in true monkey see, monkey do fashion. They weren't born knowing how to do the most common of things such as swing from a branch or groom the bugs off of another monkey. They learned it from watching the other monkeys around them. It is the same with our own children. They watch us with curious eyes and attentive ears! Even at the youngest of ages. I remember a few years back when my daughter was still just a toddler. I had just started listening exclusively to Christian music in my car. One day a song came on and I couldn't help but lift up one hand( I had to keep the other one on the steering wheel) as I loudly sang along. Changing lanes, I glanced in the rearview mirror to catch sight of my toddler with one hand held high in imitation of me! What a heartwarming moment. But keep in mind that it goes for the not so great moments either. I have caught her shaking her tiny fists at a car as it cut us off and I have heard from her mouth not so choice words. It is with shame that I confess that part. But it makes clear that the little ones see and hear what we do. This brings me to a patient of mine. He was the sweetest of men( I say that about all of my patients though)! It was God driven that our paths crossed as he was out of my usual area that I normally covered, and I so happened to volunteer to take an admission that day. He had great reservations about going on Hospice because quite frankly he wasn't ready to 'give up'. We talked about Hospice in general and how 'giving up' was not in our vocabulary either. He then mentioned about being a Christian which was my opening to be able to talk about it as well. ( I am not really allowed except if and only IF the patient wants to talk about it) Interestingly enough he was a Jewish man who had chosen to accept that Jesus was Christ. To make a long story short we talked about scripture, shared stories, and held hands as we prayed. Later in the week, I was invited by his family to attend a family day with him. All of his children and grand children had come for a visit as it became apparent that the end of days was near for him. As they sat around a large round table, my patient shared stories he remembered about each of his 3 children. There were tears and laughter as he brought up 3 very DIFFERENT stories about his now adult children from when they were but a child. When it was his childrens turn to share, the most amazing thing happened. As it turned out, they all 3 had the SAME thing to say about him. They each remembered dads big fluffy oversized 'prayer' chair. He laughed when he heard the description of his prayer chair and said that he had purposely gotten the biggest overstuffed too big for the room chair. A chair that the children could not see it for anything else other then what it was meant for. Often that was where they found him and when he was there, they knew not to disturb him for he was in communication with God. What a testimony of his life as the children's stories ,although slightly different, were the same in regards to picturing their dad in that chair for prayer and scripture reading! It made me think long and hard about if people were gathered around a big round table in rememberance of my life, what would they remember? In particular, what would my child remember? I hope with all of my heart she remembers two hands lifted( One when driving) Does she see how I treat others? You betcha! Does she hear the words from my mouth? You betcha! Does she see mommy, or even daddy, sitting in a big fluffy prayer chair every night? Not yet........but am I in the market for a big fluffy prayer chair? YOU BETCHA!!!!!!
And maybe next time you walk past a person 'monkeying around'in front of the monkey cage at the zoo, you'll get a chuckle......... :)
