Nurse-attitudes!

From The Message, Luke 6:

Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then Jesus spoke:

You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.
God’s kingdom is there for the finding.

 
You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.

 
You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.

But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
    What you have is all you’ll ever get.

And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.
    Your SELF will not satisfy you for long.

And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games.
    There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.

There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

I like The Message because it shakes free some of my preconceptions of scriptures that I’ve read for years. What I take away from this version of the Beatitudes is a steely determination to look life straight in the eye—recognizing that sorrow and longing are a part of life. BUT, that sorrow and longing create the amazing opportunity to experience joy and be filled from the heart up!

Well, the practice of nursing, like life … [insert grin here!] … 

Oh Nurse, you are blessed when you’re lost in the anatomy wondering where to place that Foley catheter.
  An expert colleague and a multitude of anatomy apps are there for the finding.

 
You’re blessed when you’re faced with a complex, hard-to-get-along-with participant.
Then you’re ready to learn to listen.

 
You’re blessed when the tears flow freely in the middle of a long night shift.
Joy comes the morning at shift change.

But it’s trouble ahead if you think you know it all.
    What you know now is all you’ll ever attain.

And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied that you’re a super nurse without need of a team.
    Your SELF will not satisfy patients for long.

And it’s trouble ahead if you think management and delegation is all romance and drama.
    There’s still BM to be managed, even if it's not the type you used to see (frequently!).

Nurses who perform only to impress others, and practice favor to ‘nice’ patients and administrators, lose heart. Popularity contests are not truth contests—your task is veracity, fidelity, justice and true equity, which often is not popular.

So, I encourage us, in whatever work we do as nurses and practitioners, not to run and hide from the suffering, the longing, the roughness of life! It is in the trenches that we all pray and it is in the storm that we see Christ walking toward us … we are called to truth, justice, and faithfulness.

Blessings on the roughness of your mid-week!