I went to a small private Catholic school until 4th grade back in the North Hills of Pittsburgh. I remember walking up hill both ways to and from school (in the snow, even in the summer). I’m pretty certain that the nuns are the patent owners of the metal edge on the wooden ruler. When that sharp edge hits your knuckles, you will remember to mind yourself in the future.
Jean was certainly a spy from Russia. Not sure why the Russians needed a spy in the lunchroom of St. Bonaventure School, but there she was every day, serving lunch without complaint to a loud group of kids carelessly spilling tater-tots all over the flecked indestructible terrazzo floor. As children, we only focused on what we didn’t like about Jean. Jean was bigger than life to us. If we didn’t eat our food, she sent us back to the table to finish it. If we tried to hide it inside our empty milk carton, Jean would feel every milk carton before we threw them away. It only took one time to get caught; I’ll leave that to your imagination.
As an adult, I can look back and see how Jean was part of a total effort to speak into children’s lives. She was teaching us Respect, Responsibility, and Resourcefulness (she never checked our pockets).
It takes a special person to be willing to serve lunch.
One of my favorite Bible stories of all time is about David and Goliath. You see, many parents name their children David; I have an older brother David. I don’t know a single Goliath. Goliath was so big that to this day, if we are told that something is “goliath,” we know it’s big.
David was the youngest of his brothers and was left home to help tend the sheep and care for his parents’ needs while his older brothers were off fighting a battle against the Philistine Army. One day his mother packed up food and asked David to take “lunch” to his brothers. That’s kind of hard to put in my mind, that he could literally travel to the battlefront and visit his brothers.
While looking for his brothers, he listened to the trash talk taking place between the two armies. What it came down to was this: Goliath was the largest man in the Philistine Army, and he was undefeated in battles. The challenge: send your best against our best. David, seeing no-one from his side accepting the challenge, approached Saul, the King, and said, “I’ll fight him!”
David was in the position to fight Goliath only because he was willing to serve his brother’s lunch. An attitude of serving first before receiving tells of the character and quality of a person.
Many of us today feel entitled or feel above another because we have become successful with our education, our businesses, and our wealth. Many of us would expect to be served lunch from a Jean or a David. Until we are willing to “Serve Lunch,” we may miss out on the victory. Only because David was on the front line did he get a chance to step up. Had he “Door Dashed” the food to his brothers, he wouldn’t have seen the problem and been in the position to act as he did.
David, knowing that he had a history of success, battling wild animals that had attacked his sheep using his slingshot, chose three stones and called on Goliath to come forward. With one perfect strike to the forehead, victory was in hand for David and his people. Vegas would have had those odds at 1M to 1.
What giant issue are you dealing with today that your pride and unwillingness to serve are preventing you from solving? We do live in a mixed-up world; the reverse of what is really the truth. We think that the powerful will win, but it’s not true. The Least and the Willing will win the prize!
Many of us know of the “projects” in Chicago called Cabrini Green, but few know where it got its name. Watch for the story of Sister Cabrini at the theaters near you in a movie simply called, “Cabrini.” This movie has the ability to alter your life. I’ll close with a quote from Sister Cabrini, who, after learning that she had maybe two years of life left because of an illness, said, “Then I better get up.”
Change your attitude about who should serve whom and discover who you were really meant to be.
