Go Beyond

It’s Christmas and I am on the road once again — but, this time, in my own time zone. I am in Corpus Christi to visit with my wife’s family. This morning Cheryl and I got up early and headed to the local Wal-Mart to pick up a few last-minute items for tonight’s family gathering. Now, I am not accustomed to shopping at Christmas or any other time of the year. So, I just followed Cheryl up and down the aisles and thought of this excursion as something of an urban adventure. While I am not crazy about shopping, I do enjoy meeting people. Our cashier was a gregarious young lady filled with holiday cheer. She told us that although she is Jewish she enjoys the Christmas season. We also learned that her 100-year-old grandfather and 98-year-old grandmother are Holocaust survivors. You can learn a lot about others even if you just have a few minutes to engage them in conversation. Cheryl and I thanked her for her infectious cheer.

As we walked out of the store with our stuffed plastic bags, we saw the Salvation Army bell-ringer dispensing Christmas cheer while standing next to the familiar red kettle. Cheryl and I exchanged glances and smiled the second we saw him. We both had the same thought. Years ago when our son Jonathan was in high school, he came home one afternoon during Christmas break and told us that he had just found the best job in the world. “I will get to talk to lots of people, tell them Merry Christmas, and raise money to help people in need!” And then he added, “And, I get to do all of this while ringing a bell!” Jonathan had been hired to be a Salvation Army bell-ringer during the holidays — and he was genuinely excited about it. So, every time Cheryl and I see a Salvation Army bell-ringer we can’t help but think of Jonathan.

I am not sure that being a Salvation Army bell-ringer is really the best job in the world, but I am convinced that doing any job with the right attitude can make it the best job in the world. It’s not the job but the person doing the job that makes the difference. The late motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” He also said that “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” I agree. The Apostle Paul said, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23). I appreciate that Jonathan saw opportunity in what many might consider a mundane part-time seasonal job and that he approached the task with a positive attitude. That made all the difference for him and for those he met on those cold days when he heartily rang a bell next to a red Salvation Army kettle outside of a Wal-Mart in north Texas. He made it the best job in the world!