Blessed By Kindness

I thought she worked for Southwest Airlines. Her “faith, hope, and love” t-shirt should have given me a clue, but I didn’t notice until later. She observed my predicament and humbly served me with kindness. I will never forget her act of love.

I was returning from an amazing trip across the country visiting a dear friend I hadn’t seen in many years. Because of my physical limitations, I always request wheelchair assistance at the airport when I fly. This usually ensures that I am transported to my departure gate and down the jet bridge to the airplane door and then picked up again as I exit the plane at my arrival gate. If there is a layover at another airport along the way, I am guaranteed wheelchair transport between arrival and departure gates. But something else was in store for me on this trip.

As I exited my plane at my layover airport, I was greeted with a wheelchair as expected. But when I got to the end of the jet bridge, I was asked to get out of the wheelchair and to climb up (unassisted) onto a motorized cart that carried six people. Apparently because my departure gate was twenty gates away, this was the preferred transport in order for the airline helper to save steps. I was about to find out just how much this particular worker lacked an attitude of service when he tried to drop me at the wrong gate (and argued with me about it) and then reluctantly stopped at a restroom as I had requested along the way. By the time we reached my actual gate, he was not interested in providing any assistance for me to climb down off of the vehicle. Without moving from the driver seat, he pointed over towards the window at my gate when I asked where my wheelchair was.

Enter my blessing from above. Another passenger on my upcoming flight (who I mistook for an airline employee) noticed my struggle and grabbed a wheelchair to assist me. As I sputtered unneeded words about the rudeness of the actual airline employee, she quietly helped me and asked if there was anything else she could do for me. Thankfully, I later realized my mistake and was able to apologize and express my gratitude.

But this incident got me thinking about my own servant heart. When was the last time I randomly served a stranger, expecting nothing in return? When was the last time I went out of my way to be a blessing to someone else? Am I known for my compassion, kindness, and humility? Food for thought, as there is always room for each of us to improve.