Extraordinary Women: Florence Nightingale

Just last year, I wrote about Florence Nightingale on this blog. If you want to read about her, you can go here. 

This week, I won’t recap her life and ministry, except to mention the Epistle for her feast on August 12 reminds us that ‘there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

Florence Nightingale led the way for generations of women and men who are called to nurse and heal. As the collect asks, “Life-giving God, you alone have power over life and death, over health and sickness: Give power, wisdom, and gentleness to those who follow the lead of Florence Nightingale, that they, bearing with them your presence, may not only heal but bless, and shine as lanterns of hope in the darkest hours of pain and fear; through Jesus Christ, the healer of body and soul, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

Even if we are not called or gifted to be healers, we can “shine as lanterns of hope for others in their darkest hours”. The world needs a lot of ‘lanterns of hope’ to shine against the darkness of hatred and violence. We may think that there is nothing we can do. Nightingale, with her lantern, spent her nights listening to wounded soldiers from the Crimean War. Seems a little thing, but to each man it made the difference between despair and feeling cared for.

What can you do? It may be just holding a hand, or sending a note, or making a phone call. It can make all the difference in the world.