This article is another installment in Brother P’s series, “Lessons From the Nursing Home.”

Occasionally at church you hear about the merits of being thankful. I had the opportunity to see gratitude in action at my work. I work at a nursing home, and my job is to help patients walk again. Recently, I got to see gratitude (and the lack thereof) in action.

I was trying to get a little 94-year-old lady to walk with me, and she was soooooo mad at me because she did not want to get out of bed. Once I finally did get her out of bed, she would only say mean things to me or would otherwise give me the silent treatment.

I also had to walk with a guy who was close to dying from AIDS. His body was extremely thin and weak, and you could tell that he did not want to walk. But instead of fighting with me, he got out of bed despite a tremendous amount of pain, and we walked. While walking, this guy repeated over and over that he was thankful that I would take the time to walk with him, and he must have said “God bless you” and “thank you” dozens of times during our walk.

Not going to say anything about how I felt when leaving the little 94-year-old. (You’ve probably been treated poorly when doing your job, so you know.) But when I left that dying man, I felt inspired; I felt grateful; I left him thinking about how much more grateful I could be.

“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.