Street Sweeper
In honor of MLK day, my blogger buddy and fellow cheesehead, Mark Batterson, shared one of his favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quotes.
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven will pause to say, 'There lived a great street sweeper who did his job well'."
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven will pause to say, 'There lived a great street sweeper who did his job well'."
King fought that character should matter more than skin color.
ReplyDeleteEach of us should fight that a job done to one's best should matter more than job title.
How many parents are disappointed because their offspring decided not to be a doctor, lawyer, preacher but just a lowly laborer/factory worker?
How many churches admire the preacher, worship leader, organist/pianist, board member, secretary/treasurer but fill the lowly jobs of janitor, evelope stuffer and babysitter with the less important?
I, for one, feel we need to admire and acknowledge anyone that does his/her job well. There is nothing I enjoy more than a clean restroom, a clean table in a restaurant, a beautifully weeded garden.
If an individual is a good worker-one who arrives to work on time with a smile on his/her face--one who provides for his/her family to the best of his/her ability--one who is always willing to do the job in the community/church that our titled leaders turn their noses up at.
How many of us are out to impress someone, try to pretend we know people in high places, walk with an attitude of how great we are? Instead, we need to take time to thank the ones with the glorious jobs of keeping our world clean for the rest of us to enjoy.
Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.
ReplyDeleteMartin Luther King, Jr.
WPK,
ReplyDeleteWonderful statement. And I admire anyone who does this regardless of his title/position.