A Very Simple Thing...

This is a little story from my book Leading Like Jesus. “Living in a small Holland village, I remember walking down a long hallway in the training center I led. It was very early in the morning so I had the building all to myself for prayer and meditation. As I paced up and down the hallway, I noticed a candy wrapper thrown carelessly on the floor. I thought to myself, “I must say something to the students about being so thoughtless.” Back and forth I walked, repeatedly passing the wrapper. Praying. Seeking God. Annoyed with the students. Then I heard a still small voice: “You pick up the candy wrapper.” I protested, “But if I start using my quiet times in the mornings to pick up candy wrappers, where will it end?”

Through the hallway window, I could see a few other randomly scattered bits and pieces of paper around the campus. I pictured myself marching from one end of the campus to the other, using my precious time to pick up scraps of paper all day. But the voice persisted, “You pick it up and don’t lecture the students about it. Just do it and carry on.”

And so I learned ‘The Lesson Of The Candy Wrapper’. Just do it. Don’t call attention to yourself. Don’t consider any task too lowly for you to do. Don’t fancy yourself too busy to pick up candy wrappers."

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