Doing Unto Others

A Rolling Stones song advised you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need.

But sometimes it's both.

My wife's religious faith is strong. She relies on prayer to guide her through things. It's how she says she decided on me.

And, surprisingly, she still believes.

A few years back, she asked in prayer for a chance to make one more difference in her career before retiring from education.

A principal post opened in a nearby parochial school. Unknown to her through the interview process, it was failing badly. Due to a variety of factors, it was suffering the similar fate of small village Catholic schools--the enrollment had been dropping for years and stood at 90-some students in a K-8 school. Soon, it would likely be combined with other small village schools (140 would have been a solid, sustainable enrollment).

She got the position. She got to work right away--personally contacting every family that left, setting up a plan, getting the school and parish on board--and the school, indeed, turned around. Remarkably, in this time of Catholic school contraction, the enrollment at this little village school is now nearing 160 students. Donors were so encouraged that they added a several-million-dollar addition. With the work of a determined parish and the commitment of school community families (and my wife's plan), the school's climate transformed from despair to hope.

So, it was the answer to that prayer. She had been placed in, and guided through, a position in which she made a difference. Mick Jagger's "what you want."

But it was richer than that.

She was surrounded by wonderful people, virtually (and often literally) embraced by those in the community. People said wonderful things, offered encouragement. My wife was enriched in her faith through them. She felt their joy and their appreciation for what she was trying to do. In experiencing this little community's commitment and faith and, yes, love, my wife's heart and soul were filled to overflowing.

So, all this time, the church, the Catholic schools leadership, the parents looking for a solid faith-enriched education, the village community itself, felt that she had helped them.

Of course, she did. But more importantly, they had helped her.

Amazingly, in that, she found she got what she needed.

What a remarkable way to head into the next phase of life.