I was in line at Target when someone tapped me on the shoulder this afternoon. It took me a few minutes, but when the woman told me I had taken care of her father in the hospital a few years ago, the memory of her entire family returned to me immediately.
For ten years she and her two sisters had been estranged from their father, all because he had remarried after their mother’s death, adding two more sons to the family.
But just two days before her father’s death, those three daughters visited and reconciled with their father, as well as the rest of the family. I remember it well. And not only was it nice to run into her today – it was perfect timing, just when I needed to be reminded of the reasons I chose to become a nurse.
Being able to witness the entire family’s reconciliation was quite a blessing to me. In the setting where I work, very often I am able to witness what really matters most to people, because so often many of them are facing a grave prognosis and death.
And, it seems to me, as though what matters most to people at the END of their lives, is what matters most to God ALL of our lives.
People. PEOPLE are what matter most to God.
I don’t want to wait until I’m dying to tell people I love them. And I don’t want to lose PEOPLE over worldly things I can’t take with me.
I have an inheritance in heaven awaiting me that David writes about in Psalm 16:5-6, “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
So, since PEOPLE are what matter more than anything else in this world to God, I will remind myself of what 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
PEOPLE matter more than ANYTHING ELSE to God. PEOPLE! Not stuff, not money, not big houses or cars, credentials, careers, or inheritances. PEOPLE!
So what matters to YOU? People? Stuff? Inheritances? Don’t wait until you’re dying to work that out, because you never know when YOUR last breath might be…..
Choose wisely. It’s an ETERNAL decision………..
I learned this exact lesson beside a hospital bed as my brother was on his way home to Heaven. It changed my perspective on “things” forever. The only thing we take with us when we go is relationships. I’m convinced hospital bedsides are holy ground, and the nurses that watch over them are sometimes angels in human form. Thank you for being one of the angels who refuses to give up the fight!