When Compassion Moves You

I am a Nurse. I have been an RN for many years now. But, few who know me may understand WHY I wanted to become a Nurse.

So let me explain.

Back when I was a teenager we had a couple that rented the guest house from my parents. The wife in the couple was an RN. They would go on trips occasionally and ask me to collect their mail for them until they returned.

She subscribed to Nursing Magazine and I would look through it. The thing that made me decide to become a Nurse was found in those pages. It was an article on bed sores.

Yup, bed sores. Stinky, nasty, rotting bed sores.

I looked at those pictures and I just knew. I wanted to help them.

Over the years I have looked into countless faces. Some on happy occasions, some on sad, devastating occasions.

The key to the whole deal is, I looked at them.

Lying in every bed, in every hospital is a story. These are not just bodies sent to fill up our time until we can clock out and head to the house. These are people who have loved ones, who have histories, who may be lonely or scared.

Every day with every one of them, even the aggravating ones, I looked at them. I did my very best to look at them as if it were my loved one lying in the bed, hurting, lonely, scared....

Just as you will never be an effective Teacher if you are only doing it for summer's off, you will never be an effective Nurse if you are doing it for a paycheck alone.

You have to do it with heart.

That is also why Jesus healed so many, did so many miracles for the people, He looked at them.

Matthew 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Over and over we read that Jesus was "Moved With Compassion," and in each instance something happens to those He is in contact with.

Because, you see, when compassion truly moves you, you have to respond.

I have not been working in a clinical setting for almost 4 years. Working in Case Management is different in so many ways, but tonight I realized something....

I realized we needed a reminder.

A reminder about those charts that sit on our desks, about those that we visit in their homes, those that are difficult, those that are draining.

We need to remember that written in the pages of those charts is someones story.

And as Case Managers we have the chance to play a part in what could the the final chapter, in some cases.

Each person, each life, each family is an opportunity.

Do you want a ministry?

Look around you.

LOOK at those people that you deal with day in and day out. That is your field white for harvest.

The word compassion means, "to suffer together with."

When was the last time you looked at someone else long enough to see their pain? Or the last time you listened long enough to hear their loneliness?

When was the last time you TRULY cared for another soul without a thought as to how it might profit you?

Do you know what I would have given to have had someone taking care of my parents who could actually see them? Do you have any idea how much just a kind word or a gentle touch can mean to someone?

When was the last time you allowed compassion to move you?