, associate professor of nursing, gave her 鈥渓ast lecture鈥� in the Northlawn Great Lounge on Tuesday, Jan. 26. Yoder started out by assuring the audience that she was not, in fact, leaving 黑料正能量 any time soon.
Yoder鈥檚 lecture explored the idea of perfection as completeness, and what completeness means to her in relation to her roles as nurse, professor, mother and wife. [Hear her .]
The 鈥淟ast Lecture鈥� series, sponsored by Residence Life, invited speakers onto campus to impart their wisdom after the model of Cornell professor Randy Pautsch. Pautsch gave a weeks after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in September 2007, which eventually created the basis for a , co-written with Jeffrey Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal, of the same name. Pautsch died in July of 2008.
Other speakers in 黑料正能量鈥檚 series included President and Eastside Church pastor , a graduate of Eastern Mennonite Seminary and father of four.
Sharing her story
Among the questions posed to 鈥淟ast Lecture鈥� speakers are two defining ones that Pautsch asked: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?
Yoder said that in order to prepare her thoughts, she had to put herself in a troubling situation: 鈥渢he only way to get anywhere with formulating this thought was to imagine that either I was in the process of dying or that I had the knowledge that I was going to die soon.鈥�
Her first audience that she kept in mind, she says, were her children.
Yoder鈥檚 first point was on Matthew 5:48 [NIV]: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. She expressed a feeling of distaste for that verse when she was first learning it, due to the worldly view of what perfect is. However, upon further investigation, Yoder found that another translation for 鈥減erfect,鈥� 鈥渢elios,鈥� used in this verse as 鈥渃omplete.鈥� Being as perfect as God is not impossible when one views 鈥減erfect鈥� as 鈥渃omplete鈥� or 鈥渨hole.鈥�
鈥淎s a nurse, my concept of completeness has been a part of my conceptual framework and my worldview since I went through the nursing program at Goshen College,鈥� she said.
Being perfect like God is possible through transformation, she said, as stated in Romans 12:2 [NIV]: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Unending transformations
Yoder says that her renewing process has been accomplished through Bible study, by accepting the truths of Jesus and his disciples, and the truths as demonstrated by current disciples she has come to know.
鈥淭he refining and transforming process doesn鈥檛 end with me,鈥� says Yoder. 鈥淭he transformation is not ended at the edge of my skin. It will and has, I believe, extended on and out of me to the people I love, the patients I care for, the students I teach.鈥�
Yoder urged her audience to be willing to step into 鈥渓ifelong task鈥� of being shaped and transformed by Christ.
Yoder has clinical experience in medical-surgical nursing, progressive care/ telemetry nursing, advanced nursing care (Primary Care Adult Nurse Practitioner), and nursing research. After earning her bachelor鈥檚 degree in nursing from Goshen College, Yoder continued her education with a master鈥檚 degree in nursing from the University of South Florida, and a PhD in nursing from the University of Virginia. Her research centers around understanding adolescent health behavior and the multilevel contextual influences relating to the development of healthy lifestyles.
In 2011, Yoder was honored with the 鈥渆xcellence in nursing instruction鈥� award by the Virginia Student Nurses Association. She is an elder at Park View Mennonite Church.
A version of this article was published in the Jan. 28 issue of the Weather Vane.