Without going into tons of detail, this week has been really hard for me. Sometimes there are things that happen that are just tough to deal with. One of those things happened last Sunday. Each day since I have tried to distract myself and tried to stay busy to move on in life and be happy despite what the real desires of my heart have been. I feel like I've done an ok job at it, but it most definitely has been hard.
That's where my friend Lucy comes in. She's great, always has been and always will be. Ever since I first saw her I was impressed with her accomplishments in life. Then, ever since I met her, I have been inspired by her to do hard things and accomplish big dreams. These are among a few of the things knowing her has taught me. Like me, she has also had a really difficult week. Unexpected stresses like mine, but also she had a slammed week of school work. One huge test, and preparation for like 4 more that will take place next week. In addition to that, she is a collegiate athlete, and travels every other weekend for competitions - missing classes to do so. She has time consuming and strength draining workouts every day. She has responsibilities as a friend to help others, as a daughter to contribute to her family, as a sister to motivate her siblings, and again as a student-athlete trying to balance two very demanding roles in difficult coursework and difficult physical exertion. How she does it is beyond me.
Late last night, as I had just climbed into my bed, I decided to send her a text for taking the time out of her day to go skiing with me even when she had so much to do. I valued the time with her and really value the friendship we share. She immediately responded and said, "Come down here I have something for you." Haha I was half asleep and surprised, I wasn't expecting to see her that night nor for her to go out of her way to do something so secretive for me. I threw on some clothes and went down and lo and behold she had a HUGE bag of Core Power and whole wheat bagels. Seriously among my favorite things.
Why I am telling this story is because of her dedication to selfless service. That is what this blog is about, right? So Lucy had a crazy week, probably crazier than mine, but she spent her saturday night (she literally could have done ANYTHING - she has many friends and lots she could be doing) with a friend doing something kind, nice and thoughtful for someone else. THAT'S HUGE! WHO IS THIS LUCY GIRL ANYWAY!?!?
What added even more to it was to understand her heavy load last week and upcoming heavy load this week. She posted on social media this morning a picture of herself skiing and she said something along the lines of, even with "a bajillion" things to do, it is never a wrong choice to ski, even if it is only for one run. After she skied is when she went and picked up and delivered the goods for me. If she had a bajillion things to do when she was skiing earlier that day, she most definitely had so many more things to do instead of do that act of service for me.
And that is what it is all about. I think I have written this before, but there is never time to do something nice for someone else. There is always reason to be filling our time with other tasks, important things, urgent things, and any combination of both. She understands that, yet she took time to do something for someone else. I hope she felt the power that comes from sacrifice and service, especially at inconvenient times when other things seem more pressing to get done. She will likely never know the lasting impact that simple act had on me. Now I want to get back out there and go find someone I could help like she helped me!
