Day 180

It was late November when I found kittens underneath the house in which I was living.  Flea-invested and hungry, I did what I could to care for them.  Working at Petsmart then, it wasn’t too difficult to find homes for them.

And then there was little London.  I had fallen in love with him, and had planned to keep him.  But as the days passed, I realized it wasn’t in his best interest to be there with us.  I was in a house of four dogs and a kitten like him could definitely be loved better elsewhere, so I placed an ad on Craigslist.

It wasn’t long before I was contacted.  A sweet mom seeking a surprise gift for her daughter in time for Christmas.  We agreed to meet, and when she did, she brought her son and his fiancé to meet London, too.

Flash forward five years to today, and I was sitting in a restaurant with a few of my friends.

When he walked up, I was pretty sure it was him.  He didn’t recognize me, of course—hello, five years—but I recognized him.  A little bit older, and a little bit more tired, but life has a way of catching up with us like that.  Despite his business, he was a great server, both attentive and kind.

And as the night continued, I listened to my friends talk about life in retail.  It made me realize all the more why I have such a heart for those of us in the service industry—in retail and consumer industries.

It surprises me to think that we make the least amount of money for what we do, and just how underappreciated we are.  It’s not easy.  A lot of times it’s not fun.  And a lot of times you’re treated like trash.  Just because you’re serving someone, a lot of people see you as beneath them and treat you as such.

If nothing else, this life of mine has taught me humility and appreciation.  How to be humble in service and how to appreciate those serving me. 

Tip well.

Try to make pleasant conversation at every meal.

Say thank you as often as they come up to the table.

Try and stay patient, because most of the time what’s going wrong isn’t their fault.

You want to get theological with it, we’re all servants in the house of God.  So why show your brother any less respect just because he’s wearing a name tag?

Being a servant to Christ isn't placed on paused when you are the one being served.

Looking back on tonight, we may have just been another table to him, but I hope when we left he knew he was appreciated.  Like Bryan says, if you leave your neighborhood and they don’t miss you, they don’t notice you’re gone, something’s wrong.  And in a world where everyone is underloved and underappreciated, whatever we can do when we go out to be different, be different. 

Be loving.  Be appreciative.  Be a good servant to others and be an especially gracious recipient of service.

You never know what you do, what you say, and how you act will affect someone.  We have the ability to make people smile.  Why not make people smile?

And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:44-45).

And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).