There were two events in my life that taught me a lot about servanthood and humility.

The first was when I was in high school, my Grandma Gladys moved in with us.  She had Parkinson’s among other things and was wheelchair bound.  She loved ice cream.  Really.  Taking care of Grandma involved the whole family but for the most park I was captain of the transport crew…which means that if Grandma was switching chairs or going somewhere in the car it was my job to lift her to move her and to take the wheelchair everywhere.  I learned to drop whatever I was doing and go into action joyfully regardless of the interruption.  The last thing anyone wants (well most of us) is to be a burden to someone else so I learned to act out of joy instead of duty.

The second event was in 2002 when my aunt, uncle and 3 cousins moved over from Bangladesh.  My dad had been trying to bring them here for 14 years (yay for doing things the legal way, cheers to needing serious reforms) and finally we had a date that they would arrive.  They moved into our rental house across the street from ours.  Two bedrooms for a family of five.  The oldest had his bed and dresser in the living room.  They were cold and out of place, and they said “thank you.”  I decided in the first week they were here that my “new” cousins would be a priority in my life.  I’ve never met anyone more humble and thankful and giving.  We got to drive them everywhere for a while because it would take some time before any of them could qualify for a drivers license.  I sold my 2 seater and bought a sedan.  Now, six years later they’re all citizens and four of the five of them are working (the other is only 10).  They host bible studies, they give whenever there is a need and they feed anyone who comes across their threshold.  I thought maybe this was just an attitude that they developed when they got here but my uncle told me a story, that when they would hunt in Bangladesh (as in for food, not leisure) his son, when he was young, would say “give the small animals away”, but my uncle would reply “no” and always give the biggest animals away.  I’m sure somehow he managed to say “thank you” to them for taking it.

Our culture teaches us that life is all about being served.  If you have the cash and the clout then we count you successful.  In God’s kingdom He’s got it backwards- the successful are the ones that learn to be servants.