We all know how much bad news is in the world. We are inundated with it day and night, night and day! And we all also know why this is. Because bad news seems to sell papers, or rather drive clicks! But every so often, it’s just good to focus on a little good news.
This is why I periodically browse sites such as www.goodnewsnetwork.org. And I’m glad I did earlier today as I came upon the following article posted there by Andy Corbley, titled “When Missouri School Wanted to Rename Their Building, They All Agreed to Honor the Longtime Janitor”.
According to the article:
A Missouri K-8 school was debating long and hard over what to rename their school. The decision-makers could have picked any number of famous Missouri natives, or perhaps a national figure that would inspire the kids to strive for similar achievement and recognition. But no; in the end they picked the person they all decided meant the most to them: Claudene Wilson, the school custodian.
The 64-year-old has been at the Swedeborg District III Elementary School for decades, working not only as a custodian-janitor, but plumber, landscaper, school bus driver, in cafeteria service, and even as a greeter for the kids when they arrive at school. At a certain point, she told CBS News’ ‘On the Road’ with Steve Hartman, she would be working 13-hour days. Why did she tolerate such long hours? “The kids,” she said.
The school board, led by President Chuck Boren, voted unanimously over the summer to designate the school as the Claudene Wilson Learning Center. Boren was in the school’s 8th grade class when Wilson started working there. His son Canaan, now 14, spent his whole childhood learning the same lessons from Wilson that Boren did.
“That’s what makes Claudene what she is,” Boren told CBS. “…These kids get sick, you think they go to the nurse to start with? They go to her. If they had a bad night, they go to her. And she’s there for each and every one of them.”
You’ll find one gas station, a few churches, and a couple of restaurants on the single country road that runs through the unincorporated communities that make up the Swedeborg School District 100 miles from Kansas City in rural Pulaski County. “If you go out in the community and say you’re from Swedeborg, if they know anything about Swedeborg, the first thing they’re going to say is, ‘Is Claudene still there?’” Mark Sasfy, the school’s assistant administrator, told CNN.
Many of the school’s employees have never seen the building without her in it - even after she officially retired as the custodian in July. By the start of the school year, she was back as a bus driver. “It’s awesome that someone that’s been here, spent their whole life, for 30 years working at one place and having all those connections mean something,” added Jacob Miller, a fifth and sixth-grade teacher who remembers a moment during his first day in the classroom when Wilson passed by the door and gave him a thumbs up through the window.
There’s still one person in the school district who doesn’t feel the honor was deserved, and that’s Wilson herself, telling Hartman at CBS that while it touches her heart, her relationships with the kids are the only reward she requires.
As I read this story, I was reminded of what Jesus once told us. In the New Testament Gospel of Matthew (chapter 20, verses 26-28), He states:
“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
It is interesting that this statement comes between two stories. The first (in chapter 20, verses 20-24) involves the mother of James and John asking Jesus to give her sons a place of prominence in His future kingdom, and the other disciples’ resentment of this.
The second comes in chapter 21, verses 28-32, and involves two sons working in their father’s vineyard, the first deciding to do so after first refusing, and the second agreeing to do so but never showing up. Jesus then asked which son the father wanted? His listeners’ reply that it was the first son prompted Him to remind them that many people looked down on in this world would inhabit the Kingdom of God long before others, thinking too much of themselves, ever would.
All of this echoed what Jesus had told His followers earlier in chapter 19, verse 30: “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Or as the New Living Translation puts it: “But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”
The Apostle Paul (in his New Testament Letter to the Romans, chapter 13, verse 7) told us to “Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”
I’m happy for Claudene Wilson. Her many years of sacrifice were no doubt difficult. And now, at long last, she has been given the appropriate honor. And I am reminded that her dedication serves as a prime example of the truths Jesus taught. May I follow her example as I seek to live a life useful to others and glorifying to God!
STORY SOURCE:
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/when-missouri-school-wanted-to-rename-their-building-they-all-agreed-to-honor-the-longtime-janitor/.
SCRIPTURES:
https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/20.htm;
https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/21.htm;
https://biblehub.com/matthew/19-30.htm;
https://biblehub.com/romans/13-7.htm.
This is why I periodically browse sites such as www.goodnewsnetwork.org. And I’m glad I did earlier today as I came upon the following article posted there by Andy Corbley, titled “When Missouri School Wanted to Rename Their Building, They All Agreed to Honor the Longtime Janitor”.
According to the article:
A Missouri K-8 school was debating long and hard over what to rename their school. The decision-makers could have picked any number of famous Missouri natives, or perhaps a national figure that would inspire the kids to strive for similar achievement and recognition. But no; in the end they picked the person they all decided meant the most to them: Claudene Wilson, the school custodian.
The 64-year-old has been at the Swedeborg District III Elementary School for decades, working not only as a custodian-janitor, but plumber, landscaper, school bus driver, in cafeteria service, and even as a greeter for the kids when they arrive at school. At a certain point, she told CBS News’ ‘On the Road’ with Steve Hartman, she would be working 13-hour days. Why did she tolerate such long hours? “The kids,” she said.
The school board, led by President Chuck Boren, voted unanimously over the summer to designate the school as the Claudene Wilson Learning Center. Boren was in the school’s 8th grade class when Wilson started working there. His son Canaan, now 14, spent his whole childhood learning the same lessons from Wilson that Boren did.
“That’s what makes Claudene what she is,” Boren told CBS. “…These kids get sick, you think they go to the nurse to start with? They go to her. If they had a bad night, they go to her. And she’s there for each and every one of them.”
You’ll find one gas station, a few churches, and a couple of restaurants on the single country road that runs through the unincorporated communities that make up the Swedeborg School District 100 miles from Kansas City in rural Pulaski County. “If you go out in the community and say you’re from Swedeborg, if they know anything about Swedeborg, the first thing they’re going to say is, ‘Is Claudene still there?’” Mark Sasfy, the school’s assistant administrator, told CNN.
Many of the school’s employees have never seen the building without her in it - even after she officially retired as the custodian in July. By the start of the school year, she was back as a bus driver. “It’s awesome that someone that’s been here, spent their whole life, for 30 years working at one place and having all those connections mean something,” added Jacob Miller, a fifth and sixth-grade teacher who remembers a moment during his first day in the classroom when Wilson passed by the door and gave him a thumbs up through the window.
There’s still one person in the school district who doesn’t feel the honor was deserved, and that’s Wilson herself, telling Hartman at CBS that while it touches her heart, her relationships with the kids are the only reward she requires.
As I read this story, I was reminded of what Jesus once told us. In the New Testament Gospel of Matthew (chapter 20, verses 26-28), He states:
“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
It is interesting that this statement comes between two stories. The first (in chapter 20, verses 20-24) involves the mother of James and John asking Jesus to give her sons a place of prominence in His future kingdom, and the other disciples’ resentment of this.
The second comes in chapter 21, verses 28-32, and involves two sons working in their father’s vineyard, the first deciding to do so after first refusing, and the second agreeing to do so but never showing up. Jesus then asked which son the father wanted? His listeners’ reply that it was the first son prompted Him to remind them that many people looked down on in this world would inhabit the Kingdom of God long before others, thinking too much of themselves, ever would.
All of this echoed what Jesus had told His followers earlier in chapter 19, verse 30: “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Or as the New Living Translation puts it: “But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”
The Apostle Paul (in his New Testament Letter to the Romans, chapter 13, verse 7) told us to “Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”
I’m happy for Claudene Wilson. Her many years of sacrifice were no doubt difficult. And now, at long last, she has been given the appropriate honor. And I am reminded that her dedication serves as a prime example of the truths Jesus taught. May I follow her example as I seek to live a life useful to others and glorifying to God!
STORY SOURCE:
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/when-missouri-school-wanted-to-rename-their-building-they-all-agreed-to-honor-the-longtime-janitor/.
SCRIPTURES:
https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/20.htm;
https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/21.htm;
https://biblehub.com/matthew/19-30.htm;
https://biblehub.com/romans/13-7.htm.