|
Doing What It Takes
|
Doing What It Takes
As I was leaving the last hotel, a cheerful voice said goodbye and to have a safe trip. I turned to see a very pleasant woman cleaning the room I was passing. I stopped and ask how her day was going. She said fabulous. Since she was working right on Lake Huron, I commented that she had a beautiful place to work. She smiled and said she enjoyed it every day. I noticed an accent and asked where she was from.
Nadine is a young wife and mother of 2 young children. She is from Jamaica and works cleaning hotels in Michigan. She spends 6 months a year in the United States and 6 months a year back home with her family. She shares a room to save money and lives with 7 other females from Jamaica. They have to no car and walk to work. She sends all of her extra money home.
She would much rather be home with her children but she said conditions were better for employment here in the United States. Her husband is a schoolteacher but cannot make enough money to support the family alone. A single United States dollar equals $47 in Jamaica. She is making a virtual fortune for her family by cleaning hotels.
Her parents help her husband with the children. She attends a Christian church regularly in Jamaica but there are no churches within walking distance from her apartment. She reads her Bible every night and has her own private worship service at home.
She does her best to stay happy during the day but admitted that she cries herself to sleep every night. She stays homesick constantly. She counts the days until she can return home.
I told Nadine she was a very brave woman and I asked her how she did it. She looked surprised at the question. She said that in life, you do what you have to do. She said God gave her strength.
I had to probe to get Nadine to tell her story. She wanted to talk about what I was doing and me. She was smiling while she worked and determined to live her life with a cheerful spirit. Nadine leans on God and accepts her difficult circumstances. Her peace would be hard to understand in human terms. Her Bible is precious to her. Her face lit up when she talked about it.
"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:7 NIV
Her cheerful spirit was good medicine for both her and others around her.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22
NIV
She works fast and carefully. She talks with customers and makes sure they feel welcome. She takes pleasure in her work. They want her back year after year. She grieves the absence of her family but that is not destroying her life. Her blessings are from God.
"A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness" Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 NIV
At tonight's hotel, I watched a very sour faced woman cleaning the hotel bathroom. I began a conversation with her by asking how she was. She gave me a disgruntled "ok." I asked what it would take for her to be fabulous. Her answer was to get to go home. She obviously hated her job. She smile a little and said it probably wasn't that bad and she really shouldn't be complaining.
I have to admit that before the conversation with Nadine, I would have sympathized with her. Cleaning a bathroom has never been very much fun for me. I realized that if Nadine waited until she could go home t have a good day, she would have to wait 6 months. Instead, she chose to have a good day today.
Perhaps being content in all circumstances is one of the secrets to loving the Lord God with all of our heart. Lack of contentment does seem to cause much of our emotional turmoil. May we all be able join Nadine and the writer Paul in being able to say the following:
"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:11-13 NIV
|
|