People learn from people, just as iron sharpens iron

I learned this valuable lesson during our daughters stay in the hospital and I hope that it will be worthwhile to you as well.  

On meeting one particular nurse (lets just call her Vu) my first impression was how focused she was on her duties. She was polite yet it seemed like she was on a particular mission. One I must say that initially did not include making nice or friendly with me or our daughter for that fact. She busily checked vitals, medications, room conditions, bed conditions and hurried out the room. She not only took care of all her medical necessities she never left the room without asking Jasmine are you comfortable and is there anything that you need? She seemed to be one step ahead of any situations that arose and completely prepared to handle them with ease and confidence. On the second day she heard that nursing care would be required at home. She offered to show me how to do the care myself. She began to teach me and watched over my every move to ensure that I was correctly performing the tasks and also comfortable with what I would be required to do. She even coached me on what to tell the nurses over the days to come when she would be off so that I would have complete confidence to continue the duties at home on my own. Over the three days under her care, I watched as she efficiently and courteously cared for Jasmine. Now, during those three days our family continually spoke of God giving Him praise for His goodness, Jasmine was playing Christian music on her ipod and I was reading my bible in the room. It was quite obvious that we are Christians. Vu never made a comment either way about her belief and to be honest I was more concern about the care of our daughter to even inquire. There was not one time while under Vu’s care that we ever needed to push the button for the nurse to come in. Before leaving on the last day I told Vu that it was so obvious to me that she loved her job and that the manner in which she did her work was impressive and heartwarming. She said, “I only treat people the way I want to be treated”. I said, I can see that, because you have treated my daughter as if she were your own. Thank you.

The next day our new nurse (we’ll call her Carolyn) came in and introduced herself. She was nice and had a friendly smile. She shared that Jasmine was her only patient other than covering the breaks and shifts of other nurses that day. She immediately viewed the same set of circumstances as the days prior had been. We were talking of the goodness of God, Jasmine was playing her Christian music and I was reading my bible. Carolyn was quick to share her shared faith, her love of Christian music and began to show Jasmine pictures of her children on her iphone. As the day went on we learned that she didn’t like her roll as a fill-in for others, that she worked part time for Hospice as well, that she had a child with hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and various other bits of her personal life. She spoke gently and smiled continuously and attempted to make friends with Jasmine. She even talked of staying in touch on Facebook. During this day, none of Jasmine’s medical needs were a priority. I continuously had to ask and remind her of activities that needed to take place. In fact when my husband, Donnie came, he was only in the room ½ hour when he inquired “what’s up with this nurse?” In truth we never left Jasmine’s side that day out of concern for the lack of attention to all her medical needs. Donnie and I agreed that night that we would not allow this current lack of care persist into the next day. Carolyn only worked that one day with Jasmine.

Now, the bible tells us about a man that had two sons. He told both of them to go and work in the vineyard. One said he would go but did not, the other said he would not go and repented and went later. Jesus asked which one did the will of His father. We know that the later one listed actually DID the will of His father. I do not know if Vu knows Jesus, yet her works spoke more loudly than all the words of Carolyn. Carolyn spoke the words that said I am a Christian, yet her actions were sorely lacking; Vu’s deeds were Christ like.

Here is the lesson that I learned. All my words are useless if my works do not substantiate what I say I believe and who I say that I am. I thought of so many people that I know that say that they are Christians and yet if anyone were to observe how they live one would never consider that they are indeed of the body of Christ. He is our Head and we are His body. We are the demonstration of Him (Christ Jesus) in the earth, hence we are Christians’. Vu’s light made me consider my own. So I asked myself as I ask you, does your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven?