Article August 2, 1999 Issue

Help wanted: foot washers

Step up — to serve.

By Barbara Beth Whitewater

WHEN ELECTED to a position, given a promotion, or hired for a job, the truly successful are able to distinguish the right time to serve rather than to rule. Sometimes people think that they've been kicked up a notch simply because they're superior to others. But the spiritual fact is that as children of the same divine Parent, all are blessed with unrestricted worth. Skill, talent, ingenuity, education, opportunity, like all good, have their origin in God, divine Spirit. They are not personal possessions but spiritual endowments—innate characteristics of man as the image and likeness of God.

When Jesus washed the disciples' feet, he indicated that the master was really the servant. And to the degree that one understands man's identity as God's complete and beloved idea, no job is too lowly if it serves to help make mankind better.

When her youngest child started school, a friend of mine decided to become a professional housekeeper. One day, during a visit, I commented on the exceptional beauty of her hands. She smiled and said, "You know, I scrub twelve toilets a week." My reply was, "Yes, but you always do it with such love," because it was not unusual to come home and find some thoughtful little touch that went far beyond getting the dirt up. For example, if one of her clients had some castoff that another could use, my friend would take the unwanted item to the one in need. Most of all, she did her work with dignity, skill, and joy.

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