E is for Earnest— is a reminder to be earnest with our prayers for nursing. Luke shares Jesus’ timeless teaching about praying with persistence through the story of night time visitor knocking on the door of a friend. Even though the friend is resting comfortably and doesn’t want to get out of bed to answer the door, the persistent banging on the door provokes the friend to answer the door. Jesus summarizes the story with the following lesson:

So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened (Luke 11:5-10).

The persistent and probably annoying visitor reminds us to pray earnestly (Romans 12:12). One way is to pray weekly for our institutions/ministry/schools. We can also commit to intercede for our colleagues and staff. Our earnest knocking on the prayer door is not for our needs. Instead it is for the Lord’s will in our workplace, in our profession and within our community of nurses (1 Timothy 2:1). As many of us are well acquainted with, earnest prayers doesn’t guarantee results. Instead, it is more likely to open our hearts to the work of the Holy Spirit in our workplace.

“A persistent spirit brings a Christian to the place where faith takes hold, claims and appropriates the blessing.” (EM Bounds, The Necessity of Prayer p. 49)