Pulling Selfishness Duty

Friday. 3:00. All I had to do was change the Spanish calendar, stack the chairs so the maintenance angel could vacuum, and straighten my desk.

That’s when the grade school principal came in and said, I have a dilemma.

He was giving an entrance exam to a new student in his office but needed a private place to meet with a parent at the same time. In our jam-packed school building, there aren’t any private, unused places unless you count bathroom stalls.

No problem, I said.

Gathering some lesson planning materials, I went to the teacher work room where I propped my weary head with one hand and wrote lesson plans with the other. That’s where I did battle for a half an hour –wishing for my room and my time back. My.

“…serve one another in love,” Paul says. (Galatians 5:13 NIV)

Takes more than love, Paul. It takes one of those metal tools like I used to use when I worked at McDonald’s in high school –the long-handled garbage compacter that had a round end. Open up the smelly garbage bin and push, push, push that nastiness down, to make room.

Selfishness is a whole day’s worth of Styrofoam and paper Quarter Pounder wrappers flowing over the sides of my heart. No room for service unless I raise the compacter high and smash myself down low first.

Smooshing self.

That is not a fun job.

I must say, though, that by the end it sure feels good to have helped someone. The principal was grateful, and I told him, Any time. I really meant it.