I Shall Be Free

I was working the other day and I was mercifully only scheduled for the lunch shift. The great thing about only working lunch is that you can spend the entire shift dreaming about what you'll do when you finally leave for the day. In our restaurant, the dinner 'opener' shift starts showing up at 4 o'clock, so that's the target time for the lunch 'closer' to have all his work done and get out of Dodge. As you can imagine, times are tense from about 3:15 on, as you try to mentally ward off tables, praying that they can get stuck in traffic before the dinner opener shows up to relieve you of duties. Predictably enough, a man showed up in the nick of time- 3:15- to keep me company.

Now, I'm certainly among the last to complain (though I'm not above it entirely) about anybody coming in to give me money at any time. He was well within his rights to come on in and have a meal and I had nothing scheduled hard and fast for Monday night, so I was only mildly annoyed when he showed up. What did get me, however, was the fact that this dude was toting him a massive book.

Well, in spite of the fact that he had brought a sure sign of his staying longer than I had in mind, he ordered promptly and I had the food out to him before he could finish his next page. He finished eating right around 3:45 and I couldn't have been any more pleased. Then it happened. He dug into his book.

Again, I have nothing at all against reading books. I own quite a few of them. I also have nothing against reading a book during dinner if you eat by yourself. Believe it or not, though, it is quite rude to come into a restaurant and read a book to the exclusion of being polite to the waiter.

I'll paint the picture for you: There I am, walking up to him every five to ten minutes, asking if he wanted another drink, a desert- in other words, doing my job. As I walked up each time, he would put his hand up the same way I would to tell my dog to stay and tell me 'come back later'.

I wanted to be free and here's a guy insulting my dignity.

I think freedom and dignity are interlinked. When God made us, he made us in his own image and likeness. He made us to live lives of freedom and worth and he purchased that for us in the cross of Christ. In submitting to death, Jesus surrendered his own freedom and subjected himself to the utter shame and dehumanization of public crucifixion. In raising to new life, Jesus gave us ultimate freedom and ultimate worth in that we are united with him.

It's good to remember in the midst of my life that I am called to lead that there is a solid, a real hope that I shall be free.