Matthew 25:40

"And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ "



Friday, October 16, 2009

Sacred Work

As I was packing up my scrapbooking room today - I came across a book that I had to read during my senior year of nursing school. In this book is a paragraph that I quoted in my presidential speech at graduation. But in reading it today, it once again reminded me of the main reason that chose nursing as a career - to care for others. You can read the rest of my speech here, but below is the paragraph I am referring to. I comes from the book Sacred Work by Erie Chapman.
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“In charitable care giving, your “boss” is the person you serve. The people you serve, by the way, are not customers. They don’t come in to buy a shirt or dress, they come to you in deep need. They have cancer, or heart disease, or have come for your help in delivering a baby. They are the raped, the abused, the homeless, the ignored. They are you mothers and brothers and sisters and children. They come to you because they are suffering in body and soul, and they are calling out to you for help. They are the voice of humanity in distress. They are not asking you to fill their shopping bags but to tend to the cry of their hearts. They need service far beyond customer-focused politeness. They need loving service from people who see their work as sacred.”
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I pray that I never lose sight of that...