Watching Must Be A Priority

[laharper]

“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.� Acts 20:28

Some days I feel like the senior elder who handed in his resignation because the busyness of his position kept him from shepherding his flock. “Leading does mean watching� and in CPE students are taught and taught and taught to “watch.� Over and over again we present verbatims that demonstrate our ability (or lack of ability) to walk into a patient’s room and notice “little� things which would help us to know and understand the patient more fully. Are there pictures of family? Does the patient have hospital issued gowns or their own pajamas from home? Has the food tray been put in his/her reach or is it still by the door, out of reach? Does he/she keep the curtains drawn? Who visits the patient? Have I met parents, siblings, spouse, neighbors, children? Or does anyone visit at all? All of these visible things give us an insight that, coupled with our conversation, allows a chaplain to gain a better view of who this patient is and to keep a better watch so we may respond to their unique spiritual needs and provide better pastoral care.

But being a staff chaplain also means I am a Living Donor Advocate, a Family Communications Coordinator for Organ Donation, an Ethics Consultant and have to participate in all the training, meetings, interviews practice councils, and interdisciplinary rounds that accompany each position. These “busyness� type activities, important yet time consuming, can occupy so much of my time that when I am called to rush to the bedside of a patient in distress I often feel ineffective and unprepared for what I am about to encounter because I have not had sufficient opportunity to “keep watch� over this patient. I don’t know his/her fears, desires or family dynamics and relationships. All eyes are on me now as the patient and/or family and often the nurses are looking at me for direction, words of comfort, guidance, hope for the future-and I am thinking “If only I knew him better, or “if only I had kept a better watch over her.�

Unlike the senior elder I do not want to resign. The Day 16 reading has made me commit to working harder to prioritize my time and making better use of it. My flock of many cultures and religious beliefs is still the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made me overseer. Like the congregational flock, I have wheat and tares and it is not my responsibility to separate them but to extend the love of Christ to all. My prayer is that because of my love and care, many who might be deemed tares will become sheep. But that is God’s responsibility, not mine. My job is to be watchful so I can best serve them.

Dear Lord, My prayer today is that you would help me to better prioritize my daily activities so that I might better fulfill the role to which you have called me. Help me be insightful and intuitive and instinctive as I keep watch over those you bring to my area of the hospital. Many are hurting. Many are considered “the least of these.� They have no power. They have no advocates. Use me fully as your undershepherd so that your Name will be glorified. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.