Sugar Fast Day 15
Life in healthcare is hard! I find this to be true even 4 years post-pandemic. Long hours, staffing changes, regulations to follow that seem to be fluid week to week. The list goes on. One challenge I see for both staff and the residents I serve is overcoming apathy. Covid is just the right soil to breed an apathetic spirit that is much easier to succumb to than to fight and overcome. But God says, bloom where you are.
The Gospel of Mark tells us that although our spirit is willing, our flesh is weak (Mark 14:38). The temptation to not fight apathy will easily take over if we let it. And Solomon, in his wisdom, warns against being a sluggard. “The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway.” (Proverb 15:19). Ouch! But we have been given everything we need to fight this temptation (Ephesians 6: 10-12). We need not roll over and give up or worse, not care.
In addition to an apathetic spirit I have experienced days where I battle the-grass-is-greener syndrome. In this case I start to check out on some level and look for an escape. I think the Israelites, when they were exiled into Babylon, can relate. I’m sure all they really wanted was to return to their grass-is-greener Jerusalem. But God had something else in mind. He wanted the people to bloom right where they are.
This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the LORD on its behalf, for when it has prosperity, you will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:4-7)
Bloom Where You Are
Despite their circumstances God wanted them to bloom where they were. They were instructed to live their lives right where they were: building houses, planting gardens, marrying and raising families. But they were also instructed to seek the best for the city they found themselves in by praying. Praying for the prosperity of Babylon.
This Biblical account really speaks to me. Rather than disengage and become apathetic about my workplace, rather than look for ways to escape I need to bloom right where I am. In addition I need to keep my workplace, the staff and the residents in prayer. Covid has been hard on all of us and continues to be a challenge, but God has me in this place for a purpose. He has a plan and I need to allow Him to plant me where He has me and then I need to bloom.
For I know the plans I have for you” — this is the LORD’S declaration — “plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)