A Hand Up

Sometimes small drops acts of grace start a trickle, or maybe even a flood of action. That’s a good thing.

The button that opens the door to the gas tank on my car stopped working last week. One of those wierd moments of frustration where the car was working fine, the gas tank was working fine, the gas pump was working fine, but a small piece of metal (or is it some sort of plastic??) was a barrier to the whole thing working. My gas tank level was getting lower, and my ability to do anything about it was limited…not because of the car, not because of the gas station, but this little barrier between two parts that had been both working well. A little–but vital bit when it is completely interfering with connection between the two.

Sorta reminds me of a few couples I’ve worked with… 🙂

But that’s not the point of this.

I took the car into the dealership to get the cable mechanism working again. And it works now. They do a good job.

The shuttle picks me up from work, I go in and look after the paperwork, chat with the service advisor for several minutes, pick up the keys and walk towards the car. And I almost don’t recognize it.

Cuz it’s clean.

Really clean. Unrecognizeably clean.

They washed it for me. And it’s beautiful. Really
beautiful.

You’d think it’d be no big deal. Except it is. Somebody did something for me without telling me, without me expecting it or asking for it. Something that really needed getting done—man, it needed getting done—layers of salt, grime, grit. I didn’t deserve it, I didn’t pay for it, I did nothing to earn it. It was just simply done.

Likely it makes for good customer service and happy customers. Let me attest to that fact—it works!

What was so interesting was what happened inside of me when I got in the car. The windows were all fogged/frosted up because of the humidity (after all, the car was just washed)…and so the car had to run for a few minutes to let things melt and dry out enough so that I could drive. And while I was sitting there, I looked around.

While I was sitting there, I looked around and those old parking slips looked completely out of place.

The Christmas card I hadn’t yet taken inside? It now looked like clutter that needed to get outta there.

And the candy wrappers that were neatly stuck in the door pocket didn’t look so tucked away…they looked like GARBAGE!!

So started collecting the bits together, put the card in my knapsack, and generally started making the inside of the car match the outside. It’s not like my car is a sty generally, but in the rush of getting from A to B, I’m not always on top of the little bits of “stuff” that accumulate in the car. By the time I pulled away, the car wasn’t perfect inside, but it looked nicer than it had in a while.

S’funny how a little gentle “push” made something I hadn’t gotten around to suddenly become something I was quite motivated to do. I had a pride in my vehicle and its appearance which I’d kinda lost when it got so dirty. When someone moved in kindness to get the outside sparkly, it just seemed a “no brainer” to clean the inside…and it felt sooo good.

Nobody told me I had to tidy my car because the outside was now clean…but it started something inside of me. Somebody else washing my car was not just a “handout”, but a “handup” to enabling in me something that, until then, had been just out of reach.

Reminded me of how I’d been given a “hand up” by a friend, who in dark days of my life, came over and said, “Wouldn’t you feel better if we just went through this closet tonight?” The truth was, I didn’t answer honestly, because I actually didn’t think I would feel better…and I didn’t want to do it…but she was a bit of a tidal wave about the whole thing. Her energy carried us over to the closet, and it wasn’t long before she got in there, pushed me to make a few quick decisions, and that closet was DONE. Next day, it didn’t seem quite so hard to get to other areas that needed doing…an impossible task became suddenly “do-able”. And actually, I did feel better—not by much—but enough that I was grateful she did it.

Christmas Eve this year, I fell asleep on the couch after a relaxing snack…while I dozed, someone in my tribe snuck up the stairs with all the dishes, and when I awoke from my little nap, I wandered into a spotless kitchen, an early Christmas present just for me. Somehow it
seemed easier and more fun to stay on top of the mess the whole next day after seeing something so clean done out of love.

I think we underestimate the power of a kindness to motivate and empower, to inspire and encourage. Without a lecture or instruction, but just simple caring with a splash of grace, it creates space for people to do good things in their lives.

Thanx to the people in my life who give me the “hand up’s” that make it fun to get the yuck parts of life done, who motivate me to something more and higher, and come alongside in difficult times to move forward when it seems too hard to put one step ahead of the other.

Who needs a hand up in your life today?