Being A Better Servant

I mentioned in a previous post that in April I will go in to have a Fetal ECHO performed on our little one.  After scheduling the appointment I went to Facebook and expressed some concern about driving to the hospital, in Downtown Detroit, alone.  Now I don't want to give you the wrong idea about downtown Detroit, it's actually a really nice part of the city and of all the times I have been there I have never once felt any danger of any kind.  Driving downtown was not my concern, taking a wrong turn downtown and getting lost in a questionable neighborhood alone was my concern.  I get nervous anytime I am driving in a place which is unfamiliar to me and I am alone, doesn't matter if I'm in the nicest neighborhood or the worst neighborhood.  I remember times when I have had to drive Y to her dermatologist or her physical therapist when she had Torticollis, I sat in front of the computer screen staring at MapQuest for close to an hour just to make sure I knew where I was going, what streets I had to pass before I took any turn, landmarks, etc.  And then I made detailed notes about the drive - just in case.  I know that we should really invest in a GPS but I hesitate if it's really worth it because I rarely go anywhere without B and he is a human GPS.  But anyway, I've made my point, you can see that I was quite anxious about the whole situation.

Fast forward to today, while sitting in church talking about random stuff a friend approached and said to me, "I saw your post and I will drive you to the hospital."  Initially I thought I had heard wrong but I asked, "are you sure?" and she replied that she was and I was honestly surprised.  Not surprised that she would be kind enough to do that but surprised that with the heavy load she is carrying, as a result of the trial she is going through at the moment, that she would think of me and offer to drive me to the hospital in an effort to help me feel more comfortable with a situation.  I cannot express to you how moved and touched I was by the gesture.

Similarly, a few weeks ago when I was feeling under the weather, suffering from a horrible cold and just not feeling well at all.  I had been suffering from horrible headaches from the time I woke up in the morning until I went to bed.  I had no fever but whenever I ate I always felt like puking, though I never did.  And yet again I posted how I was feeling on Facebook and shortly thereafter I received a telephone call from another friend to ask if she could come pick up Y for a few hours just so I could get a little rest and not have to worry about having a toddler running around.  Yet another instance where I was amazed at the generosity and thoughtfulness of people.

As I cooked dinner tonight my mind kept drifting to these two awesome women and others just like them who regardless of what they may be going through at the time are willing to help others.  And I couldn't help but compare it to myself.  I have been in a bit of a rut myself as of late, mostly just missing family and old friends and wishing I could be with them more, it's not a major life trial but it has really been a huge struggle for me recently.  But unlike these women I never reached out to help someone else, I allowed myself to become so engrossed in my own feelings and emotional turmoil, if you will, that I didn't have time to notice the needs of others let alone offer to help them. 

I won't say that I never provide anyone with any sort of service, if someone calls me for help I will try my best to help them in anyway possible.  The difference I notice between myself and these women is that I tend to wait for someone to call me and ask me for my help, these women didn't wait for a call, they saw a way to make my life a little easier and they approached me with a solution.  That's the kind of servant I want to become.  We have been so blessed in our time in Michigan, we have had so many doors opened and while we don't have "everything" we definitely have the things that we need and we definitely have the potential to help others in various ways.  I truly believe "to whom much is given much is required" and I think it's past time that I start meeting those requirements.