You know you need a break when going to the dentist is like a day at the spa. When we hit the dentist, it’s a bit of a flood, or stampede. It’s one for all and all for one. We line them up with as many back to back appointments as the schedule permits. So on Tuesday, June shined my boys pearly whites. Future Hoarder of America will be going back to get a cavity filled… poor little guy. I don’t think he’ll mind considering the literal treasure chest that will be at his disposal after the ordeal. Wednesday, I went back by myself (yes alone!) to get my own shining.
While I sat, waiting for the boys on Tuesday, I enjoyed thumbing through the pile of great magazines. No People Magazine (see “Seen on the Street”) incidents like the orthodontist a few weeks ago, but a few interesting articles in D Magazine on working.
I especially enjoyed one about Igor Finkler, a 7-11 employee in Richardson. He’s the guy that Undercover boss discovered when CEO Joe DePinto accompanied him on late night deliveries. The story made it to Oprah where Igor was given the keys to his own store franchise fee free.
Igor is a Russian immigrant. He’s a college -educated, decorated army officer who left it all to come to a country where the language barrier would force him from the status he had worked so hard to achieve to very low level employment. D-Magazine asked him, “When you got to the United States in 1994, because of the language barrier, you had to take an entry-level job. How was that transition?” Igor answered,
“That was a very valuable lesson for me. When you are the big boss, you kind of see the light different. Everything is great. Then when you start to literally wash toilets and just do a very low-entry position, you start to understand the position is not really important. What is important is how much you have inside. Can you still be yourself and do the extra mile, be a good guy, if you have a job like a janitor? You need to be yourself, do extra mile, and do the job and then when the time is right you will achieve something.” (D-Magazine, July 2011 “Igor Finkler” by Krista Nightengale)
I just love that. It didn’t matter the job, he was going to do it with integrity. His saga reminds me of Brother Lawrence whose story is recounted in “The Practice of the Presence of God”. No matter the lowly job, Lawrence did it as Scripture directs in Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men”. He did it with such a genuine heart that even as he washed dishes, he joyfully proclaimed, “I am doing now what I will do for all eternity. I am blessing God, praising Him, adoring Him and loving Him with all my heart.” … through his work!
Hmmm… well worth thinking about for the kids as well as me in my momming efforts.
Might I drive carpool with a joyful heart, knowing that my work has more to it than meets the eye at the moment. Might the kids embrace their low man on the totem pole status associated with being a Freshman or a 7th grader on an 8th grade team. Might they work on what they moan as mundane homework with an attitude like Igor’s.
Food for thought as we begin another school year.
Thanks for walking the road with me.
-Kay
