Who's teaching Who?

There's this woman at work who used to drive me crazy. Then I grew fond of her and thought I could maybe help her in her faith. Now I realize that I'm learning from her.

Our work is a brand new thing, a facility just opening. Unfortunately the large company that owns us did next to nothing to train or provide for my department, which is medical. The week before we opened up I was trying to both orient my employees (when I myself had not been oriented) as well as scurry around trying to figure out what we were exactly going to be doing and how to get prepared for it. To say that it wasn't the best of times would be an understatement.

Enter into this situation Meg. She's a nurse practitioner, extremely bright, and a natural born leader. She's also rather pushy and tends to look out for number one.

Once before we opened, when I was out ordering supplies and dealing with vendors and construction guys, she told the rest of the medical staff that the problem was me. That things were chaotic because I'm not a nurse. But if she was in charge things would be much better. I wasn't sure how to deal with it so I just got them all together and told them that I knew things were crazy but that when times get tough we've got to stick together. We've got to commit to refrain from attacking one another or speaking bad of anyone in the group. I told them that if they have concerns they need to come to me, but that we are to support one another and not attack one another.

Later I confronted Meg in private and she denied the whole thing.

Then the facility opened and that week was terrible. Next to no systems were in place and we didn't know what we were doing. I was working 16-hour days and on the weekends trying to figure this out and make it right. My boss' boss, the VP of the healthcare company that is a subsidiary of the company that owns this facility, was there from day one until the middle of our second week. At first she acted like I was an idiot, but then she realized what was going on; that I had not been trained or given any tools. So she set about trying to give me a 9 day straight crash course in the midst of everything. It was a bit overwhelming to say the least, but at least it helped some. She also told me that Meg had came to her and tried to get my job. But when she found out that I made less money than her, she decided it was better that I have the job. Plus Meg always leaves at the end of 8 hours and saw that I put in long hours.

Since that time she's been supportive of me being in my position.

But I held a grudge.

It was also weird to me because Meg is a very vocal Christian. I've come to see it as just part of her general pushiness. Yet, during all of this, the Holy Spirit began to speak to me. I felt that gnawing of my conscious about my bad attitude toward Meg. So, truly spiritual person that I am, I started thinking that maybe I could be an encouragement to Meg in her faith.

When she told me (now that she's decided to like me) that I shouldn't work so hard because companies just use you and take advantage of you; I very piously told her that I wasn't working for the company but that, as it says in Colossians 3:23, I was working for God. When she saw the warden really giving it to me and later she and I talked about it, I admitted that he was right. I said I was going to go to him; she asked why, he wouldn't come to you, and I said that what others did to me didn't matter it's how I act that I'm accountable for. When Meg and the physician and I were talking one day and we'd all been kind of trashing someone else I finally stopped talking and said how ashamed I was of myself, that I was talking about about another person. Meg said but it's true; to which I replied that not every true thing needed to be spoken. Oh yeah, I was thinking I could be such a great example to her.

Then the Holy Spirit finally got through to me and I realized that it's me who needs to get a grip. It's me who needs God. I'm way too big of a mess up to be an example to anyone. Anything good in me is only by God's grace; and it's His grace that I needed to be extending to Meg. Not His judgement or my self righteousness.

Then I started realizing that Meg's like me; she's an imperfect sinner saved by the grace of God. Like me, she's got strengths and weaknesses. I adored the way she responded when the dental assistant came and told me that her grandfather had died and she would have to miss some days of work; I sat there listening to the girl but Meg got right up and gave her a great big hug. I watched the girl melt into that hug-she needed that. Or when the warden was being grouchy and complaining, Meg comforted him in a bold way that I never could have. Yep, the truth is that I am learning from Meg.

Has that every happened to you, have you ever thought you were so much better than someone else and then God turned it all around and you realized that you could learn from them?