National Nurses Week begins today, and I want to thank ALL our nurses for all you do, day in and day out, to serve, heal, and enhance the health and well-being of our residents and clients. Of all the days of commemoration we observe, this is one of the most significant to all of us, and to me personally.
The Bible doesn’t say much about nurses as we know them today — but we can find plenty of scriptures to support God’s regard for healers. Ezekiel 34:16 spoke to me this morning:
“I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak … I will feed them in justice.”
This passage makes me think first of our Public Health nurses … but it applies with just as much relevance to anyone we serve. Our nurses often don’t know anything about the individuals they minister to other than the fact that those people need some degree of healing. And they don’t think twice about responding immediately to the needs that are being presented to them.
In 2020, our nurses were called upon to drain their reserves of compassion, to mask their own worry, and to power through their own fatigue for the good of those who count on them. There was no complaining, no lamenting — just a collective desire to serve more and do more for those who place their trust in us. And today, as we hope the worst of COVID is in the rear-view mirror, that dedication remains.
I could not feel more humbled by the work I see and hear about every day on the parts of our nurses. I mentioned this last year, and I’ll say it again: The work is truly blessed that comes from the hands of these individuals who are often referred to as “God’s angels.”
To our nurses: I thank you, and I pray for you. I hope everyone reading this will express his or her gratitude to a nurse today.
