Many of the Christians we see on screen and in print are not clear representations of the faithful ones I know. That’s why I want you to meet them. They have taken the way of kindness and say more through the quiet work of their hands than the loud words of their mouths. This is Ann. She is one of them.
As she wiped the glass cleaner from the mirror, Ann smiled. She loved keeping the building clean on Sundays. Praise songs echoed from the auditorium, and in another half hour, happy children would be running through the halls, eager to show off their crafts from Bible class. Sundays were always a pleasant day to work.
Then the door burst open, and she looked up to see a woman run into the bathroom with her head down. Even without the mirror’s reflection, Ann could tell the woman was crying. She rushed into a stall, sat down, and sobbed.
“It was Mother’s Day,” Ann remembers, tears filling her own eyes, “Mother’s Day can be hard sometimes. Whether she had lost her mother or lost her child or wanted a child, I never knew. I didn’t want to bother her and I didn’t want to leave her there all by herself, so I just stayed and prayed while I cleaned the rest of the bathroom. For thirty minutes, she cried without stopping. It broke my heart. We may not know another person’s story, but God does. Prayer is always something we can do to help.“
When the woman finally came out of the stall, Ann was waiting. She asked if she needed anything, any kind of assistance. Crying anew, the woman said nothing, but accepted Ann’s embrace before drying her eyes and returning to the church service.
Heart-care may not be part of the job description for most persons in custodial services, but it is for Ann. Especially now that she works on a college campus.
“It was on that Mother’s Day years ago that I decided to pray over bathroom stalls, because people go into them for all different reasons we will never know. Now I pray over every toilet as I clean it. By doing that, I can positively influence every single person on this campus, every single day, because a bathroom stall is the one place that everybody will be at one time or another.”
Hear the sermon from a cleaning cart: It is not the work you do that matters, but the PURPOSE you see in the work you do.
She admits that there have been a few humorous interactions since the students found out she was praying for them in the bathroom every day.
“It made me laugh when one girl came up to me and said, ‘Hey, Ann! I have a big final exam in a few minutes. Do you think you can pray over the toilet I am about to use? I need all the help I can get!'” Ann says she laughed and quietly prayed for the sophomore right there.
When asked if janitorial work ever drags on or becomes difficult, she quickly brushes the thought aside. Her work day goes quickly and is almost always fun because, to her, working is more than just work. It is her way of showing that she cares. “I am not just cleaning. I am keeping a clean environment so that people can learn and grow. If I stopped doing what I do, they would notice. I know my work is important, and so do they. The students show me they love me and are thankful for me. I get hugs from them all day long.”
Ann leans forward and grins as she throws in one last bit of wisdom, “Work isn’t hard when you know you are loved.”
Well, then it makes sense that you enjoy your job so much, Ann.
Because loved is exactly what you are.
Thank you for reminding us that any work can be our greatest mission if we decide it will be.
“‘Go to work, because I am with you,’ declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.” (Haggai 2:4b)