“I’m Still a Nurse!”
My mother died a few years ago from Alzheimer’s. She was a remarkable woman. She was a violinist and registered nurse. She served in the Army during WW II. She worked as a nurse most of her life. Alzheimer’s captured her brain at age 59. She spent a good amount of her remaining years in a nursing home, and one day she overheard the nurses talking about caring for others when one of them remembered, “Martha, didn’t you used to be a nurse?” Mother quickly answered them by saying, “I’m still a nurse!”
When her mind seemed to be at its worst, we purchased a radio and placed it beside her pillow so she could listen to music. She often could not tell me what my name was, but she knew the words to almost every song on the radio. Though her mind and body were perishing, her talent was still there.
Paul teaches us about resurrection in I Corinthians 15. Paul says our body is like a seed that is buried before it sprouts into a plant. Our body may perish through age or illness, but Paul says our bodies will be raised imperishable, full of glory and power. (v. 42-44) As a plant which sprouted from a seed is directly linked to it but remarkably different from it, so too is the relationship between a natural and resurrected body. Our resurrected body will be so much more than our natural body, which is weak, imperfect and temporal. Paul says in Philippians 3:20-21, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who…. will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.” We will be like Him!
Our bodies and mind may fail us, but Paul says in I Corinthians 15:52 that trumpets will blast, a hand will reach out, and we’ll rise to sing like never before. We often worry about our loved ones and ourselves. Paul reminds us that with Jesus nothing will be lost, but rather regained in the future.
Prayer: Father, we often don’t understand the resurrection, and we worry about what is to come although your Word tells us what to expect. Thanks for sending Jesus to remind us of our glorious future with you in Heaven. Amen.
I Corinthians 15:42 – “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable.”
Author: The Rev. Tommy Herndon
Images: Courtesy of Unsplash (Graham Ruttan & Elena Mozhvilo)
