Heart of a servant.
We live in a world that measures success in terms of growth and outcomes - the return of our investment. Working in an inpatient psychiatric setting, I have seen many examples of the hurting leaving with hope. Those moments are beautiful and inspiring, but they do not paint the whole picture of my practice.
One does not need an in-depth knowledge of inpatient psychiatric care to know that the clients I work with can be very challenging. They can be argumentative, confrontational, or even violent. It can be easy to look at a diagnosis and make broad-stroke evaluations about clinical outcomes and goals. Often these judgments assume a patient's past behavior is the proven indicator of future behavior. Working with challenging patients can create nursing burnout when interventions do not produce the intended outcome.
I strive to define my nursing practice not by the return on my investment, but in my role as a servant. It is written in the book of Matthew, "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'" When the day comes when I retire as a nurse and I attempt to evaluate my career, I want my impact to be one of servanthood. To be remembered as a servant requires respect and humility as the foundation for all interactions with patients, families, and peers. I am a servant not because it may assist our indented outcomes or simply because it is the right thing to do. Through a servant's heart, offered to the ones society considers to be the least, we are serving our Creator and forever changing our own hearts to be more like His.