I am feeling very long-winded tonight. It must be because I haven’t posted in over a week. This post will hopefully be more valuable than the last two…

Anyways, at work a couple of days ago, I noticed a couple of our great third grade teachers trying to control what seemed to be a disproportionally large number of children. (As it turns out, the whole third grade was having one presentation but 2 of the 6 teachers were away at a meeting. The meeting had not concluded before the end of the presentation, so there were two teachers taking on double loads of children.)

I was walking by, and volunteered to help out. This seemed to completely surprise the teacher I was speaking to, but she immediately took me up on my offer. While I was preparing one class for dismissal, another colleague of mine came in to help me out, and that availed me the opportunity to reroute a misdirected communication to a child that had come into my possession.

When I made it to the classroom where the note was supposed to go, the teacher was out because she was monitoring her room, a crisis in another room, and trying to get some materials copied to go home, so not only did I deliver the misdirected (important) note, but I immediately engaged the children in an activity to keep their behaviors under control. The classroom teacher was, as a result, able to cope with the stressful situation and get the copies she needed.

This is not meant to say, “Look how good I am.” In fact, the first time I saw the chaos, my instinct was to think, “I’m glad that’s not my problem.” But for some reason, I let it become my problem, and, subsequently, life became a little easier for some very stressed out colleagues of mine, and the actions of the lady who took the first class off of my hands made it possible for yet another teacher to be helped out in a high-stress situation. Imagine how much could have gone wrong had we both let these situations be “somebody else’s problem.”

So often in our lives, we see a job that has to be done or help that should be given, but we shrug our shoulders and find excuses to not participate. Imagine how much better a world we would live in if we would just get over ourselves and be nice for a change. So what if it is inconvenient? Jesus got down on his knees and washed the feet of His apostles, yet so many of us who wear His name wouldn’t bother to hold the door for someone whose arms are full.

Next time you see someone who could use some help, offer it to them. You will be a better person for it.