Joyful Work: an Oxymoron?

Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. Pr 16:3

This morning my father and I visited a wonderful homebound woman who had been a patient with each of us. We carried the bread and wine and shared with her the Lord’s Supper that her health would not allow her to receive in church.

This afternoon another patient of mine called because he could not reach his primary care physician. He had fallen and sustained a compression fracture and was in great pain. I was able to visit him in his home, pray with him and arrange for his proper care.

It was a great day off. It reminded me why I had become a Christian doctor.

The practices of medicine and dentistry are often overwhelming. The sheer number of patients flowing through our examining rooms and operative suites, the dollar bills moving in and out of our hands so fast that we can never be sure whether we are swimming in greed or standing one step away from bankruptcy, the time pressures that tear us away from families we love and work to support: all of these concerns are like a dance floor filled with strangers that hide from us the one we love on the other side of the room.

And yet, sometimes God lets us glimpse that loved one through the crowd; sometimes He lets us see again the vision we once embraced in becoming doctors for Christ. With that vision renewed, at least for today, I can see that the life of a Christian doctor is all about love, all about sacrifice, all about Jesus.

So, what do I need to change about each day I work so that every day I can see that I am living the life to which I have been called?

Dear God,
Help me take a step toward change in my life so that each day I will show more love, more sacrifice and more Jesus.
Amen