A medical school program in New York gives students who are training for
geriatric medicine a unique opportunity. They experience life as nursing home
residents for 10 days. They learn some of the struggles of maneuvering a
wheelchair and being raised out of bed with a lift, as well as reaching the
shower bar from a seated position. One student learned how little things
counted for a lot—like lowering nameplates on doors so that patients can find
their rooms more easily, or putting the TV remote in a reachable location.
Although the students still can’t fully relate, they will be better able
to serve the elderly in their future work.
Sometimes God gives us the opportunity to use the lessons we’ve learned
and the comfort He’s given us during difficult times to help others in special
ways. Paul indicated this when he wrote: “Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any
trouble” (2 Cor. 1:3-4).
Are you using the lessons you’ve learned in your trials to touch the
lives of others? Remember—even little things can mean a lot.
God doesn’t comfort us to make us comfortable; He comforts us to make us comforters. (RBC)
