I know it might be a shock to some of you (sarcasm intended), but, every once in a while, there is a parent who gets mad at me.
The reasons are varied. Sometimes it is because I won't do what they want me to do, like giving an antibiotic for a viral illness. Sometimes it is because they had to wait a while to be seen. We try to minimize wait times, but medical problems don't always come in 15 minute packages and waits happen. When parents are upset for reasons like this, it doesn't usually bother me too much because I know that I have done what I needed to do for the children. There are times where a parent being upset with me does bother me. For a while, I wasn't sure why.
A recent incident helped me understand why I do sometimes take these events personally. Without giving detail about the event itself, what it came down to was that the upset parent(s) did not trust my motives in giving the medical care that I gave. Rather than asking me to explain the situation, they made an incorrect assumption about the motive behind the decision. As I was considering how much this mistrust bothered me, I began to wonder how God feels about our mistrust of Him. Most of us begin to question God's motives when something that we perceive as bad happens to us. We don't trust that His intentions toward us our good. We don't trust that He has our best interests in mind. We don't trust His goodness or love. We don't trust His heart.
If I (fallible, imperfect me) am disturbed when parents don't trust my motives, how must it grieve our perfectly good and loving Father when we don't trust Him?
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
There are certain professions that - by their very nature - lend themselves to being sought for advice. They position the person in that profession as the Keeper of Valuable Knowledge that others seek - sometimes desperately. And those seekers expect their expert to ACT like an expert.
ReplyDeleteThe position of "Medical Doctor" is perhaps the primary example of this phenomenon. And yet, as you've so aptly noted, there's only one Being in the universe that's truly a perfect source of guidance. If we don't always trust the creator of the universe, who are we to be offended when others (justly or unjustly) don't trust OUR motives or conclusions?
And yet recognizing the need for humility and forgiveness in a profession that REQUIRES expertise is no easy feat. Yet another reason we all need to appreciate and lift up our doctors! Thanks for sharing so insightfully.