In Campus Life a young nurse tells of a patient called Eileen. A cerebral aneurysm had left her with no conscious control over her body. The doctors thought she was totally unconscious, unable to feel pain, unaware of anything going on around her. It was the hospital staff’s job to turn her every hour to prevent bedsores, and to feed her twice a day through a stomach tube. “When it’s this bad,” an older nurse told her, “You have to detach yourself emotionally.” As a result Eileen came to be treated as a thing, a vegetable. But the young student nurse decided to treat her differently. She talked to Eileen, sang to her, and even brought her little gifts. One Thanksgiving Day she said to Eileen, “It was supposed to be my day off, but I couldn’t miss seeing you on Thanksgiving. Just then the telephone rang. As the nurse turned to answer it she looked quickly back at the patient: “Eileen was looking at me…crying. Big damp circles stained her pillow.” That was the only human emotion Eileen ever showed. But it was enough to change the attitude of the entire hospital staff toward her. Not long afterward Eileen died. The young nurse closes her story by saying “I keep thinking about her…I owe her an awful lot. Except for Eileen I might never have known what it’s like to give myself to someone who can’t give back.“ BobGass
This passage really got me thinking about people in my life who seem “unlovable” and hard to love. There are days when my own children seem incapable of giving back, and at times it is true. Babies are demanding creatures, toddlers are all the more better at it. Even my six year old does not always appreciate the sacrifices that we make to give them the best life we can. There are times of frustration with them, because I feel like they are so ungrateful, and IÂ find myself saying “I never got the things you did” and “You have no idea how good you have it”. You know like Grandma and Grandpa telling you “at least you get to ride the bus, I had to walk 3 miles in the snow barefoot one way everyday to school.” (Because, you know it snows in SC everyday.)
It is in these moments that we must remind ourselves that they are children. They have to learn gratitude and the best way for them to learn it is through our generosity in the moments they do not deserve it. It is what Christ did for us, even when we did not know how to appreciate it.
The same is also true for “baby Christians”. Unfortunately “baby Christians” sometimes have been saved 30 years, and have gray hair and wrinkles. At least children are cute to look at, and easier to control, right? But still, the same is true. They have to learn gratitude and the best way for them to learn it is through our generosity in the moments they do not deserve it.
I was convicted through this story, both with my children and with particular relationships in my life. To see beyond the stoic, to see beyond the ungrateful attitude, and to see beyond my feeling good about giving freely. Jesus did not say “love your neighbor, if he is as good to you as you are to him…”. No, he said “Love your neighbor as yourself “.
This is interesting because I do find myself sometimes loving those who seem so hard to love. But, I have to remind myself sometimes that maybe they do not know how to love or recieve love. And, often times they are probably watching you to see if you are truly real. Thanks for reminding me how important that scripture is “to love neighbor as yourself.”