Reasoning with the Unreasonable

Ever tried to reason with the unreasonable? Not an easy task. I recently watched one of my co-workers struggle with one such patient.

This man is elderly and lives in a nursing home. My co-worker was trying to persuade him into some therapy and exercise, but he would have none of it. His mind slips in and out of dementia, thus impairing his mental processing and emotions. His intentions don’t make sense and his actions are impulsive.

He was refusing to walk down to therapy because he was looking for his buddy’s room. He was getting frustrated with my co-worker because she was trying to talk him out of it. He would enter whatever room he came to and insist it was the right room. She finally walked him to the room he wanted. He walked in, then walked right out. All he had wanted to do was look out the window.

But he would still have none of therapy. Instead, he next insisted on going out the exit door at the end of the hallway. She tried her best to deter him, but it just wasn’t going to happen. He was bound and determined to go out that door.

Except then he found an electric wheelchair charging in the hallway. Not his, but he sat down anyway. Upon being told it was charging and wouldn’t work, he then demanded to be pushed in it. When told that wasn’t going to work either, he insisted on sitting in the regular wheelchair nearby. But rather than wait for the therapist to get it set up for him, he got involved and set things up the way he wanted. Very unsafe and dangerous as he stepped over tangled foot pedals in his impulsiveness to get where he wanted to go. But we helped him and got him in the chair without any major disasters. Then he was content to ride for a while, but still determined to not go to therapy.

I hung around for a while in case my co-worker needed help. Seemed like this guy was either going to do something that would require more than one person to correct, or he was going to turn violent. Thank goodness it all worked out ok.

Honestly, if I had been the one treating him, I would have given up early on. This man was NOT going to do what we wanted him to do. But my co-worker didn’t quit. She repeatedly and gently tried to guide him in the right direction. The safe and healthy direction. She didn’t give up on him.

I don’t talk about patients to poke fun and laugh at them, so please don’t find me insensitive and rude. I tell these stories because I see a parallel in my relationship with God. In this man I see myself when I decide that I know what’s best for me. I know what it is I want to be doing, and when God tries to gently steer me in another direction, I fuss and try to shake Him off. So I go along and do what I want to do – even though once I get there it doesn’t have any meaning or value. Then I’m right off onto my next plan, balking and griping and even sometimes becoming mean and violent. I am unreasonable, and sadly, I don’t always even realize it. Until it’s too late.

But praise God for never giving up on me. He will always be holding onto me, encouraging me to follow Him to a place with greater purpose and meaning. He will stand by and keep me from falling, and when I really mess things up, He’s right there to help untangle me.