For many, the holiday season, perhaps commencing just before Thanksgiving right up until New Year's, is not filled with favorite foods, shopping, visits to relatives and thinking about gifts and merriment. Holidays can be very difficult for some because of the twists and turns of life's journey. Being in a hospital, nursing or rehab facility or just home in bed brings a whole new set of woes.  So, when you see nurses, are you possibly seeing angels in disguise?  

Trauma, stress, anxiety and fear over the unknown are present as hospitals are entered and patients are admitted. But nurses are there, not just filling out patient forms and giving prescribed medications. They are ministering healing by actively engaging with their patients. Nurses can be angels, not with wings or like the fictional superheroes with capes, but as compassionate, kind and gentle human beings disguised in colorful scrubs.  

Most Adventist nurses will tell you that they chose this profession because they love people and want to help them.  They seek Christ's guidance and genuinely display a willingness to 'brighten the corner where they are.' They fulfill the need to be of assistance to those in need by serving our Master in the health and medical fields, which is the right hand of the gospel.   

The holiday rush does not take our nurses by surprise. They have been planning and preparing for this special season. They know that there are certain long-term patients that have no visitors. Others come in for an emergency, while others stay for a few days. Whatever the case, they are armed and ready to spring into action to meet the needs of these strangers. They spread joy  and hope by preparing for what they know will come. They plan ahead for small gifts that are age and gender appropriate. They plan to spend a few extra moments with children and adults who might be very lonely, listen to a patient's favorite holiday memory or help them to make new memories. And they support them by finding at least one thing that offers them hope, offering wellness tips for eating, exercise, and emotional support. Decorating the hallways and individual rooms also brings cheer and a sense of well-being, away from home.  

Our Nurses are daily harbingers of hope, and maybe especially during the holiday season. They are  

Nurturing 

Understanding 

Reflective and Responsive 

Selfless 

Empathetic 

Spiritual and Steady.