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)
