As a nursing student, I always have nursing on the brain...
The other morning I was able to relax, because I made myself, and was reading a book for "fun"!
The book is about spiritual discipleship. One part of the book had the word vital. It was talking about how God needs to be vital in our lives. How we need to have a devotion to Christ that is vital to our survival.
Because I see the word vital everyday in the hospital, I associate the word with vital signs: Blood pressure, pulse, respirations, and temperature.
Now I will explain how God spoke to me through a silly thought process of a nursing student.
Blood pressure is the force that the heart imposes on the vessels, as well at the hearts ability to perfuse the system with blood. This is a big component in staying alive.
So, spiritually speaking, is my "heart" strong enough to keep me spiritually alive? Am I allowing God's heart to to pump into my life? Is He perfusing me? Is His love flowing through my veins?
Pulse is the test that we use to see if our extremities are being nourished with blood. There actually is a heart rhythm in which the electrical part of the heart is working, but the mechanical part of the heart is not. This is a pulseless rhythm. So it may have the most beautiful heart rhythm, but if there is no blood pumping out because of a faulty heart muscle, then you will not feel a pulse, and the extremities will not be filled with circulating blood.
So, spiritually speaking.... I could have all the right actions, and be doing all the right things, but if my hands and feet are not warm and full of Gods spirit, those actions mean nothing. Can others be touched my warm hands? I am being effective, and not just looking effective?
Respirations are important to monitor as a nurse. The process is so natural. Breathing in and out. People rely on their ability to breath. They rely on their being enough oxygen in the air to keep there cells alive and able to work. When the oxygen goes into our lungs and reaches the avoli (lung tissue) at the bases of our lungs, there is an exchange. Oxygen enters the circulating blood and CO2 enters the lungs. This is a natural process...
Am I breathing? relying on God 100% ? If I am breathing in the word of God, it should be a natural thing for me to blow off prayer and blessings. In the body it takes more work to breath the air out than to take it in. There is a negative pressure that is made when air is blown out, so there needs to be something to fill that negative pressure.
It is easy to read the word of God, but it takes work to bless others. Am I breathing effectively? In and out?
Temperature is something that we measure as nurses. Temp is an indicator of how hard our body is working. When our bodies are invaded by bacteria, our body works rather hard to fight off that problem. This is a good thing, to an extent, but if our body works too hard and our metabolic rate increases too much, permeant damage may occur. This is when the doctor will give an antibiotic, to help the body kick the bug.
In my life, I need the warning sign that I am working too hard to fight off my own problems. My "temp" rises, and in my own efforts, I can create damage. But I have recently been reminded that the only one who can really change the outcome of certain circumstances, is God (my antibiotic.)
Am I fighting the battle, or am I having God fight on my behalf? Am I trusting that the antibiotic will actually help? Or am I convinced that I can handle it on my own?
These are the thoughts that go through my mind when I think Vital! I need to remember how vital God is to my life.
