For the Messy Days of Life

You may have noticed I’m a little late with my post this week. Oh, the fun of starting new routines! Let me detail some of the things included in my last week:

• Clear a wasp nest from the mailbox (successfully done without a sting!)
• Trip to the auto parts store (the mall would have been better)
• Change lightbulbs (some of which required a step ladder)
• Plunge a toilet (twice – well 1 1/2 times if I’m honest. Luke came in and finished the job the 2nd time around.)

Weeks like these can seem so purposeless. Remember that game, Whack-A-Mole? That’s how I feel. I know you know the feeling. But, before we all reach for the aspirin to ease our aching heads, let me tell you about the guy at the gas station. Yes, it relates. Stick with me.

Years ago, my family piled into the car and headed west. After a long football season, we dreamed of the place we call home in the woods of East Texas. We hit the road before the sun hit the skies and my pregnant self snuggled up with a pillow in the passenger seat.

Right up until the time my husband pulled off for a non-scheduled stop. In my defense, I get this straight from my Poppa, but when you take a road trip you stop ONLY for bathroom breaks and gasoline. And, really, there’s no need to stop for a bathroom break, just go when you pull over for gas.

Am I right? (On a side note, I now know passengers in my vehicles pray my daughters will need a bathroom break, so they can, in fact, also use the facilities.)

I sat up annoyed and demanded a reason for this kink in our schedule. This would surely throw our ETA way off. I stomped into the gas station with a scowl on my face and met him. Mopping the floor in front of the door, he greeted me with a smile and a, “Good morning.”

His outpouring of joy and kindness stopped me in my tracks. There he was, up at sunrise to mop the floor of a gas station, yet he did it with a smile. With more than a smile. With his heart. His whole heart. I went on to the bathroom (remember I’m pregnant and you must take full advantage of every stop you make on the road), but my entire attitude changed.

“Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men,” Colossians 3:23 (HCSB)

I want to work like my friend at the gas station. I never told him how much his attitude changed my day – maybe even my life. But now, that man, who simply showed up for work and did it enthusiastically, influences beyond even me. He never would have guessed how much that moment, that one smile and kind word, would impact a girl in the trenches of everyday life and be repeated on a blog years later.

Maybe your work today could do the same. Love you, friend. Hang in there … with a smile.

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