Being Helpful

One stormy night many years ago an elderly couple entered the lobby of a
small hotel and asked for a room. The clerk explained that because there
were three conventions in town, the hotel was filled.

The clerk, who lived in the hotel, said, "But I can't send a nice couple
like you out in the rain at 1 o'clock in the morning." "Would you be
willing to sleep in my room?" The couple hesitated, but the clerk insisted.

The next morning when the man paid his bill, he told the clerk, "You're the
kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United
States. Maybe someday I'll build one for you." The clerk smiled, amused by
the older man's "little joke."

A few years passed. Then one day the clerk received a letter from the
elderly man recalling that stormy night and asking him to come to New York
for a visit. A round-trip ticket was enclosed. When the clerk arrived, his
host took him to the corner of 5th Avenue and 34th Street, where a grand
new building stood.

"That," explained the elderly man, "is the hotel I have just built for you
to manage." "You must be joking," the clerk said. "I most assuredly am
not," came the reply.

"Who-who are you?" stammered the clerk. The man answered, "My name is
William Waldorf Astor." That hotel was the original Waldorf-Astoria, one of
the most magnificent hotels in New York. The young clerk who became its
first manager was George C. Boldt.


How Does This Apply to Our Lives?

The clerk did a little thing that stormy night. As the proverb says, a big
thing came to him by and by. Often we get so caught up in our work and in a
world that idolizes highly successful and glamorous people that we ignore
little things. As a result, we neglect something if it does not have a
dollar value or a direct relationship to our success at work.

Do you ignore little things-things like dropping someone an encouraging
note, or extending them a deserving "Thank you"?

How frequently do you take time out of a workday to help someone, or to
help faithful people reach and serve others? Whether it is in your
personal relationships or in your daily activities, "little" can actually
be "big." As Saint John Chrysostom said in the Third Century, "faithfulness
in little things is a big thing." Even in 1998 that truth has not changed.
Giant trees still grow from small seeds. Yes, the hotel clerk did a little
thing-and was rewarded greatly. You may not be able to reach millions of
people all over the world by satellite, but in your own part of the world
you can faithfully do little things to help people. Great will be your
reward if you do.