I bet we have all seen, heard, felt, or had an experience that left us with the phrase, “I’LL NEVER FORGET THAT.” I know I’ve said it many times in my life. While I was driving home from work, I was listening to a sermon and the pastor was telling a story about newborn giraffes, and their birthing experience. How the mom kicks the newborn down after it learns to stand so it doesn’t forget how to get back up. He compared it to the way sometimes God gives us a life experience that makes us fall, so that we learn to get back up. While the metaphor was neat, the last sentence he said is what really stuck out to me. “I like that comparison, I’ll never forget that.”
Truth is, we all have experiences in life that impact us deeply and seemingly etch a permanent mark on our soul and deepen our understanding of life. We think we will have these memories and thoughts forever, and as long as we live.
BUT WHAT IF WE DID FORGET them? In my experience as a rehabilitation nurse and CNA before that, I’ve seen what happens when people DO in fact forget what they’ve learned and experienced in life. I’ve seen brain injury patients forget how to eat, stroke patients forget how to use the bathroom, dementia patients forget who they are and where they are, Alzheimer’s patients forget their most dearly loved ones.
And in the midst of forgetting the basic activities in life, they’ve also lost all recollection of the moments in life that filled their lives with passion, meaning, and depth.
And we wonder why our patients are flat, withdrawn, depressed and angry. Next time someone requires more grace, more understanding, and more empathy from you than you think you have to give, remember this. Remember what they’ve lost. Remember why you started in the first place. Remember why you were called to this. Remember while you still can, because I bet your patients are sitting there wishing they did.
Anspiration 