May I Help You? (06/20/2025)

Yesterday, I went to meet a friend for a soda and conversation. When I stepped toward the order counter, I heard a voice say, “May I help you?” And I looked for the speaker. I found her…a little person whom I could hardly see over the order screen. And help me she did.

She took my order which took me a long time to place because, honestly, I couldn’t take my eyes off this young woman, and I couldn’t control the myriads of questions I had. About all I could see were her nose, her eyes, and her head topped with a cap. And as I was trying to place my order, a million images literally rolled through my brain of the challenges this young woman must face daily in our world engineered for much taller individuals. What courage she must have! What determination she must have!

I thought of all the things I can’t reach as a 5’1” woman on a good hair day. I wondered how she grocery shopped, how she drove, did she drive, how she cooked and cared for herself, did she have a special residence with counters and appliances made to scale.

I couldn’t read her name tag because it was hidden behind the screen. So, I moved a bit to the right so I could see around the screen and found her name. As I was finishing up my order, I called her by name. She looked up at me for the first time and smiled. She felt seen. And I realized in that moment how much that meant. Thank you, LORD.

Last evening, as I sat and reflected on my day, this special woman occupied an inordinate amount of my time. Our time together was less than five minutes, but thoughts of her dominated my time with the LORD. I found myself thinking about all the things I take for granted in my life. Not anymore, I promised. I promised to be more grateful for the little things like what I can reach. I thought about my struggles with self-acceptance and appreciation for what is rather than anger or resentment for what is not. I promised the LORD to try harder to see myself as the LORD sees me and love myself as the LORD loves me regardless of how different I am from the cover girls.

And I thought about the fiber of our being woven by our loving LORD, filled with graces and gifts, and how we are called to unpack them and fully utilize them throughout our lives. And I pictured this young woman, standing on a stool, trying to work at a counter designed for someone twice her height. What courage, what determination, what spirit. I prayed to the LORD for a spirit like this young woman’s that could encounter difficulties and keep going. I prayed that I would seek what I could do rather than what I couldn’t. I prayed that I would have the courage to be different, unique, as the LORD made me different and unique.

“May I help you?” she asked. She has no idea how very much she did.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.