"...to wake him up."

There is an old joke in anesthesia that says to the patient, "we don't get paid for putting you to sleep, we get paid for waking you up."  True enough.

In John 11:11, Jesus says, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."

One of the most biblical acts in health care occurs in the setting of surgery.  In each procedure we perform, we assume control over the psychological and physical health of another person.  We educate and encourage them.  We put them to sleep.  We assume responsibility for every aspect of their physical being.  We operate on them to correct whatever has gone wrong.  Then we wake them up.  And we continue to care for their recovery.

It is an incredible gift… the gift of trust.  It is a phenomenal honor… to be trusted to do the right thing for another.  It is an amazing responsibility… that another human being has given to us the responsibility for their total physcial and psychological well being.

The sacred task of stewardship over God's creation (Genesis 2:15).

Do we honor this trust?  Have we designed a system that sets up everyone to be able to concentrate on this responsibility? Do our processes contribute to the efficient and accurate care of this task?  Does our documentation promote it?  Do our words reveal it? Does our environment empower each of us to focus on the sacred relationship of healing?

Or are we distracted? By our own personal needs? By our processes? By limited resources? By our clinical protocols? By ego? By the threat of liability? By monetary concerns? By power struggles within the system?

Every component of the healthcare system should empower us to meticulously focus on the care of God's creatures. As Paul says in 1 Peter 4:10:

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."