10 Minute Read
I remember some years back, hearing a story of a young man, who was under the age of 20 at the time. He had been given a job in a gas station. The young man thought he would simply be pumping gas. As it turned out, he was correct in that assumption, he would be pumping gas, but he would also be watching over the station as well as assisting in closing down the station in the evening.
One of the tasks he was given was to broom sweep the lot around the station & gas pumps just before closing. He soon quit the job, stating, “He wasn’t going to sweep anybody’s parking lot”. I suppose he considered the request as a term referred to today as Grunt Work. He was an arrogant young man who had trouble holding down a steady job throughout his life. He never humbled himself to anyone, and who knows, humbling himself might have promoted him to owning the station one day.
On with the story…I had just moved into my current home after being in an apartment for more than 6 years. This home is a 70’s brick home with charm and outdated novelties all woven together. There was much work to be done, with plenty of things to update; but I was excited to have my own place again. I was working full time, using any spare time I could scrounge up to work on the house. Where do I begin, I thought?
I made a list of the most important things to get done first. Before putting my furniture in place, the painting had to be done. The closets and doors were first on my agenda. I wanted to paint the walls a neutral gray & all the doors a darker gray or black with the interior of the closet a shade different. While looking at some pictures online of halls with nicely painted doors, I realized how much extra time, money and effort I would have to spend making the doors look right. The walls were important, however, the doors and hardware were the focus. Getting the walls painted was important, however, having the closet interiors completed and the doors painted and rehung meant more to me at the time.
A certain someone ask me if I needed help. Sure, I said, I could really use help getting the closets and doors painted. He sounded a bit put off with my request. “Well, you know, I have done some painting in my time and I can paint walls”, (apparently assuming I thought he could not do a good job, and was therefore limiting him to the closets.) “I understand that, I said, I want to get the walls and closets painted, as well as the doors, but I need to get the closets completed first so I can put my clothes and stuff away, and get stuff out of the other rooms. He didn’t seem to bite, so I let it go. Many more conversations followed. These conversations always ended with him asking me to let him know if I needed his help. After telling him a couple of times how I was trying to get my closets done, with no offer of help, I didn’t mention it again.
To me, the closet is not a place to throw things you want to hide. It is usually the more organized place in my home. The help I ask of him would have been more valuable to me, since the closets were very important to me to have completed, but to him it was considered menial. With some extra help from my Beau, the closet interiors were completed.
Next, it was important to have the bathrooms doors on hinges with doorknobs, so I focused on that. I was able to get a couple of doors completed, although I rushed through the job. The doors didn’t have enough time to cure. Some of the paint began to peel, as they weren’t primed well, but nonetheless the doors had to be put back in place. The remaining doors I had taken down were put back on hinges until I could get to them.
Here it is, almost three years later and the remaining doors have yet to be painted. Two of them are still on sawhorses in the basement, the new hardware sits on the closet shelf waiting to be added. Now that I am retired, I will begin the process of completing the task.
Sooooo, that brings me to today.
As I walked down my hallway this morning, I was reminded of this conversation I’d had with this someone a few years back. This person, an adult, is also related to the 1st man in my story. You may not realize just how strong your genetic personality traits are, even if you didn’t have the influence of that person from day to day throughout your life. Good genes as well as bad genes are passed on to us. We truly must fight against the negative family genes we are born with, if we are to become better people. People who can serve both man and God.
This example reminded me of the arrogance & attitudes we humans have built in. All of us are hardwired this way. Sometimes in life we are given things to do that may seem like a menial task and we may feel offended, as though we are “not as important” as the one who gets the big, important jobs. It’s hard to be humble and do things we may feel are “beneath us”, but stepping outside of ourselves for a moment, might just give us some insight. Some of these menial tasks are more important to our growth than we realize.
Some folks think humbling yourself means you’re weak. The disciples could have become arrogant thinking they were above Christ, after He washed their feet. Shouldn’t that give us an example to follow? If the disciples response to Jesus had caused them to become “puffed up”, I’d imagine that wouldn’t have been a wise reaction on their part, now would it?
My story is not meant to criticize the people mentioned, but more importantly to share a lesson I learned for myself and anyone else who might benefit. It helped me to see there are things God asks me to do that truly are “important”, even if I think they are not a big deal. There are some things He wants to get in place before He can do the next thing in His plan, or answer our next prayer.
Give this some thought the next time you are confronted by a decision that challenges your arrogance. Remember. A servant is not a doormat & We are to humble ourselves if we want to become exalted. (Phil 2:3)
Coffee With Mo.. 
Leave a comment