I would like to share something about stewardship of the gifts of others and how we cultivate a generosity of time and effort.  (Maybe I am writing this to remind myself.)

When I first became a nursing supervisor, I was oriented to the position by one of the most negative women I have ever met.  We worked together on night shift splitting the units between three of us.  I had Obstetrics, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry.  She supervised Surgery and Neurosurgery, while a third supervisor was in charge of Medicine and Cardiopulmonary.  We had something like 70 units to cover at night.

Nearing the end of the shift each night, this nurse would come into the office with complaints about the lazy or incompetent nurses on her units and what problems they were.  I knew many of these men and women from covering for her on her nights off.  I knew that they were not lazy or dangerous at all.

I thought about it with increasing annoyance at the end of every shift.  How do I change things and not have to listen to her complain every night?  Finally I came up with a plan.  Every night just as she would walk into the office, I would start talking about some nurse on one of my units that I had been really impressed with that night.  Or maybe it was a whole unit that had worked well together.

If she started criticizing her nurses then not only would they look bad, so would she.  She wouldn't want to admit that her staff was worse than mine.  For weeks she didn't say much.  It was much quieter in the office.

But then I expanded my idea.  I told each nurse or unit the next night what story I had told and who was on my report for doing a great job. Everyone liked to be on my report.  It was like winning an award with a very informal ceremony. 

It got easier to get nurses from one unit to go and help out in another without grumbling.  Hard working nurses only worked harder.  I don't think it was to get on the report.  I think it was a result of feeling good about what they were doing.

And then it happened.  One morning at the end of a particularly busy shift, I heard the other supervisor who had been fairly silent for weeks telling the day shift head nurse she was giving report to, about a really great nurse on her unit and what a good job she had done that night. 

I was sitting next to her at a big round table and she turned her head toward me and said, "See I can say something good about someone too."  I had never so much as mentioned how I felt about her attitude, but it must have been clear.

We talk all the time about time and talent in stewardship.  We need to do more that  pass out sign up sheets.  We need to lift up and encourage what people are already doing.  It encourages us all to do more.

Lord,
Help us to value the gifts that you have given all your servants.  Help us all to use what you have given us to your glory.
Amen.