Wise Shoe Shine Boy
My first paying job when I was 13 years old was as a shoe shine boy. I also swept the hair from the floor of the barbershop where I worked for an extra 3 bucks a day. It was good. It taught me a good work ethic. Perhaps because of that first job, I like the following story, though it is about something much greater than shoe shinning or work ethic.
“A boy was shining the shoes of a well-dressed man at Grand Central Station. A medal was dangling from the boy’s neck as he shined the shoes. The man asked him, “What’s the medal, son?” The boy answered, “It’s a medal of the Blessed Mary, the Mother of Jesus.” “But why do you wear a medal of her?” asked the man. “She is just another mother, like your mother.” The boy replied, “Yes, but there is a world of difference between her son and me!” (From Anthony Coniaris, Daily Vitamins for Spiritual Growth, vol 3)
And that, my friends, is why we pay such great honor to the blessed Theotokos, the Mother of God. As it says in the Gospel of Luke, henceforth all generations will call her blessed (Luke 1:41).