“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

How hard do you work for your money?

Do you have a 9am-5pm job that you need to go to in order to pay for your house? Your car?

Do you work part-time as a student so that you can have enough money to go out once or twice a week, for groceries and maybe some internet at home that isn’t already included in your rent?

Or maybe, do we work to barely sell one or two items we hand created, barely enough to pay for one meal? Do we walk on the streets desperate for change in order to simply EAT today? Do we walk for hours a day before selling one of our specialty, hand-made items to buy a bottle of clean water?

I know I don’t… But I found someone who does.

This is Emma. I was inside what Mexico would call a “fancy” restaurant with tacos, enchiladas and different rices on their menus. This restaurant there was like a Swiss Chalet here in Canada, and that would be the fanciest you would find in this town in Mexico called Valladolid.

When we walk by people on the street who are begging for money, a lot of the times we tend to look straight down at the sidewalk and rush by, or we pretend we are busy on our cellphones when really, we’re just scrolling through Facebook to look occupied.

But for some crazy reason, when this woman walked by this restaurant with open doors towards the street, I couldn’t help but immediately lock eyes with her. I realized her blue hand bag and her smile were all she had, but looking into her sorrowful eyes, I found the entire meaning of life…

She looked weary and tired from walking, and so she sat at the front steps of the open restaurant to rest and continued her art that she sells: she crochets dolls and small purses because that is what she is capable of. I was at my fancy, white-cloth table with so much food in front of me that I would have leftovers on my plate.

I picked up my pride, threw it behind me, and got up from that table to say hello…

I went outside to talk to Emma and realized that if I were to buy one of her beautiful little purses, I would be taking away one of her business opportunities and she would have to work extra hours to make a new purse. So isn’t it simply easier to give her the meal myself?

I sat beside her, we exchanged eye contact, smiles, and our names.

I asked her how long she had been doing the crochet art for. She explained to me how she had been doing this specific art for 2 years, and she sells about 2 a day that provides her with either one good meal or a small meal and a drink.

Daily.

Previous to her doing crochet, she would have other ways of creating art so that she could sell this all around the city and feed herself. She no longer has knowledge of where her family is, but she knows the city and all its breaking streets. She says there are other people who have it worse than her. I asked her if she believes in God watching over her and looking out for her. She replied with a hopeful “yes”, but she needed to hear more…

So I told her:

“Bienaventurados los pobres en espíritu: porque de ellos es el reino de los cielos.”

Matthew 5:3–

–in her language.

No one other than God can provide words when your own mind doesn’t know what to say. No one other than the Holy Spirit can provide the knowledge your own person lacks. None other than the words of Christ can bring comfort and truth to any person’s life.

Emma was an open-hearted soul, and she accepted that God is taking care of her that day. God had been preparing her her whole life so that she could hear that she is part of His Kingdom. He said “Come home” and with hope, she said “yes”.

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”― Rabindranath Tagore

When you go away, talk to people in SERVICE. They understand life differently. Life for them isn’t living; sometimes life is simply surviving. In a lot of places that we travel to for vacation, these people have no where else to turn but to depend on us as tourists and to sell what they can do. Even if it means crocheting small art, or selling fresh coconuts on the beach, like the gentleman in the picture on the left.

These people find a flexible passion, something that is accessible to them, can bring a smile to a tourists face, some change into their pockets and hopefully a meal into their bodies.

When you see them, you see them in silence. Their silence is a loud prayer. Their prayer is an example of pure faith. Their faith is an act of love. Through their overflowing love, they provide service. And therefore, the fruit of service is PEACE.

“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by ‘I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.’ ” -Mother Theresa