KEY SCRIPTURE. Proverbs 17:22A

merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

RELEVANCE

Well, I'm finally home. After a time of hospitalisation, tests, an invasive angiogram (Don't get one if you don't have to), and heaps of painkillers, I've been freed!

The Royal Melbourne Hospital is worth promoting. I've been a patient on several floors and departments now—renal, Isolation, one I can't remember, and now cardiac.

In the cardiac unit, I was served by people who were lovely to interact with. They entered my curtained space at all hours of the day and night, taking blood (15 times), checking blood pressure, doing ECGs or adjusting the infernal beeping machine, which registered whether I was alive or dead.

Thankfully, there was no flatlining. 

The staff were exemplary in conduct and demeanour and great examples of Christian performance, although most of them wouldn't be Christians. If we could mimic their behaviour at work, it would help us with our Christian character. Anyone can perform a few hours of quiet diligence, grace, and thoroughness at a fast pace, but displaying that behaviour over 12-hour shifts day after day is a different kettle of fish. It requires a strong commitment to procedures, principles, and ethics, along with a touch of love.

 It got me thinking about how Jesus never promoted himself. He neither praised nor advertised his abilities or beauty to make others aware. He brought wonders, healings, and spiritual authority nobody had experienced before, yet He only promoted His Father. He only self-commended when giving people the understanding that He is the Shepherd, the Vine, The Way, the Truth and the Life, and the Son of Man with the power to forgive sins. 

If anyone had the right to advertise abilities or products, it was Jesus. But the Holy Spirit underpins all work with humility—Enter thy closet and shut thy door; Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them; Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. 

In a similar manner, the nurses did their jobs quietly and unassumingly, bringing us all back to life (So to speak). They went about their jobs, mopping up blood, checking computers, running here and there, and ensuring patients kept a merry heart while hospitalised.

Many patients entered that cardiac ward broken-spirited because once the heart goes, they go. They were tended by a team who seemed to have 'love and attention' as part of their skill set. Due to the system and people, the positivity and assurance were palpable. It was a refreshing experience!   

How do you go when you are needed at work, Church, or other places? Do you leave a testimony like that? Do you turn lemons into lemonade, or does your character taste more like lemon water with a bite? Further, would you feel the need to brag at some stage, slacken off, or get grumpy?

With the Holy Spirit within us, our conduct should be equal, at least, to that of those trained nurses. Love should drive us to be better versions of ourselves and more professional, transforming broken spirits into merry hearts.  

PRAYER 

Dear Lord, I praise you for people's attitudes toward their roles, especially front-line nurses, doctors, and others who are under trauma pressure daily. Thank you for my experience and for getting me to the hospital on time and out much healthier than I went in. 

Photo by Olga Kononenko