The receptionist was pretty...hair, makeup, jewelry, clothes…she had paid attention to detail…been very intentional about her choices… accomplished her goal…pretty.
Everyone has been there…could be any office anywhere…and all too often the pretty disappears when pretty turns to arrogance…maybe a raised eyebrow says you are bothering me…a certain look says you don’t belong here…a tone of voice says your not really welcome…arrogance…its not pretty on anyone.
However, that is not what happened to day. As I waited at her desk we began to talk… she told me how she is in nursing school…as she talked about this chosen mission in life… her eyes got even brighter…her smile genuine…her demeanor accepting…no arrogance…pleasant…comfortable…friendliness...is pretty on anyone.
Within just a few minutes of talking with her I was reminded of something…It’s not a matter of if you can be amazing today…it’s just a matter of if you will choose to be. She had chosen to be amazing and a couple of things she told me have been stirring around in my mind and challenging my heart.
She told how when she first got started on this mission that she was assigned to a nursing home and how one of her greatest fears was that she would have to “wipe the butt of an old man”. As soon as the words come out of her mouth I felt two things at once….the mental anguish of being that old man and the incredible gift that some people have to be able to do such a thing.
Then she smiled and began to describe how she fell in love with the elderly…how the old men would look at her with such helplessness in their eyes and say…”I have never had to have a woman bath me before.” Then in her reassuring and compassionate voice she would convince them that she was okay with this and that they were going to be okay.
I have not been able to stop thinking of these men…helpless in the hands of a young lady… proud men who had held their own new born children in strong and capable hands….men who had worked their entire lives to care for their families…men that could still remember what it felt like… to have moments of victory…to be admired…to have someone say that they were handsome…even beautiful…they remember doing hard things…things that mattered…they remember times in their life when they would wake up with such purpose…and now... they sit helpless in a chair while someone else baths them…spirits crushed…and then… with a voice that carries no arrogance…it has the lovely tone of caring…eyes that are bright and full of acceptance…the men hear that they are still okay…they just need a little help to day…that’s all…and she breathes dignity back into their spirit.
While she continued to tell me about her experiences…I noticed that her entire countenance softened as she remembered a special lady...one that she had come to love...who was living in that same home …the lady could not remember anyone from day to day…but anytime the lady spotted her...she would watch as the old tired face would break into a smile…then she would go to the elderly ladies room and sit by her bed...she would gently take the ladies little hand and hold it in hers….sometimes they talked… but many times…no words were spoken…they would just sit in silence...and just hold hands.
As she was telling me this…I took another good look at this attractive and immaculately dressed young lady…she had gone from pretty...to absolutely gorgeous in about ten minutes time…because…while arrogance looks good on no one…love in action is beyond description…there are no words.
The bible says that love conquers all things…with love being something we do and not something we say…this young lady was the love of God reaching out to those men who could no longer care for themselves…in the toughest moments of their lives…she was there…actively washing away their feelings of dread and insignificance.
And I believe it was the love of God…the light of God… in the young nurse in training that the elderly lady could see…she could not remember yesterday but she could see that light as it entered her room…the light pierced through the darkness that was closing in on her mind…and when she reached out her hand to this light…she found…warmth… peace…assurance…maybe even purpose…as she held the hand of God.
“I will never leave you or forsake you”
God
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