Humility

This morning was our campus-wide service project.  People from almost every organization on campus gather and we go all over our city to work with people in our community.  Our group was assigned a woman named Bea who needed some yard work done for her.  When we arrived, we had no idea what to expect but what we found was probably something we could not have imagined.  Bea suffers from a rare form of cancer, her daughter lives with her in a specially designed house the size of a shed because her allergies are so awful she cannot leave the house very often, and her grandson lives with her as well because he has back problems and cannot support himself.  Her house, which is on the edge of the woods, has gone through a lot the past few years, including getting struck by lighting and the water-main breaking.  Because she lives at the wood's edge, the amount leaves in her yard is out of this world.  We raked her yard for her, and it took three hours.  Bea told us of a lot of her struggles, but did not stop smiling the whole time that we were there.  She was not preaching to us, nor was she trying to get our sympathy; she was just interested in sharing her life story.  What was most incredible about her was at the end of the day, she could not stop thanking us for what we had done.  She said, "Have you ever seen a mother holding her child's hand? When she walks too quickly and the kid can't seem to catch his own feet? That's where we were but you got us up on our feet now and we can do something from here."  It is one of the most difficult things for me to admit that I need other people, let alone allow other people to help me, and I was amazed by Bea's humility.  Her attitude towards life was overwhelming and inspiring.  The way that she accepted our help and not only was not embarrassed in the least about asking for help, but really embracing letting us love her with our good will.  Something that is really important to stay conscious of is that a huge part of love is letting ourselves be loved. Love and be loved.