A Purpose in God’s Plan

In recent years I had worked in a nursing home that had a diversity of aging residents. We had a women at one point that was just past the 106 year mark. She had sisters in their 90’s in the home also but they were still independent to a point in their daily routine. The older sister relied on nurses to help her with everything. I would see one nurse in the morning getting Sally out of bed, into her lounge mobile bed and patiently coming her gnarled fine hair into a manageable pony tail at the back of her neck for the day. Once in while you could see the nurses gently speaking or humming along to the radio as they combed her hair.

Sally’s gown was arranged carefully around her thin shoulders so that she could go and eat in the dining room with the other residents. Respect and privacy are very important in this nursing home and a common practice in all nursing homes.
For breakfast, Sally would wait along with the others just inside their room doors as medicines were dispersed and this is where I might show up for the day.

I was part of housekeeping. Knocking on the doors if they were closed, waiting for invitations to enter, tentatively entering if you didn’t get an answer and letting them know who was knocking and why you were there was everyone’s habit. Privacy and respect at all times. I called them by name, told them “Good Morning,” and let them know I would be back later when they were having breakfast, quietly shutting their door from prying eyes.

In the dining room they were taken to their tables, dressed with a protector for their clothes and awaited their beverages and meal. Sally had to be assisted with every aspect of her meal. The nurse would assist in the feeding of each patient so that their diet, the texture of their food for swallowing and any issues that might arise during the meal. Each liquid and any meal consumed had to be recorded on the patient’s meal ticket and then eventually put into the computer.

A nurse would take the patients back to the rooms or into a common area until beds were changed.

There were times that each resident would be taken to chapel, or to a room where the currant events would be read aloud and discussed. The more cognitive residents played games or had activities. Sally would be taken where she could hear the radio or TV. Did I mention that Sally was legally blind at this point also?

You see there is a place for each and every person in the body of the church and we all play a part. Everyone has a specific purpose in the body of Christ. There is a need for all. There is a purpose and a responsibility for each member of the body.

1 Corinthians 12:14-17 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

Sally was still a part of the body of our church, our body in Christ, our purpose.

So as time went along, Sally eventually lost one sister, then the other to health issues and she remained in the nursing home, unable to attend even an outside funeral. At this point it seems that most people might start of questions God’s reasoning.

Sally had to be fed, bathed, attended to on a constant routine. Her sister’s did not. Does that make her ineffective? Of course not.

In the part that Sally played in the Lord’s plan, I learned respect and manners. The nurse honed her duty to take care and have compassion, affection and understanding with her patients, all patients. Other nurses had to learn these skills in turn and practice them each and every moment. New nurses learned that every one was worth their time and you took time for the care of your patient. There was plenty of love shown here. Sally and the Lord made sure that we stayed on the same page.

2 Thessalonians 1:11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. May every task that you engage in, in the Lord’s name, be worthy of His calling.

In the Lord’s name, Amen.
Sandra L Todd