To serve or not to serve?

"For the greatest among you must be servant of all!"

   Giclee art vs. an artist's authentic handiwork!
Hard to criticize these fantastic digital reproductions often printed into various substrates, including canvas, fine art and photo-based paper! Sometimes, these polished images outshine their originals! That debate is not intended here.
   I place 2 images side by side for a meditation. Both photos are mine, one taken of a giclee I recently bought and the other a scene from the island of Tobago.
   Dr. Charles Mayo, co-founder of the famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Mn., had invited a group of European medical experts to his home. According to the custom of the day, his guests placed their shoes outside their bedroom doors to be polished during the night. As he was about to retire, Dr. Charles noticed the shoes. All of his servants had already left. So, one of the greatest doctors of our century, gathered all the shoes, brought them to the kitchen and spent half the night polishing them.
   I don't think he was trying to impress anyone. A chore had to be done - he did it without complaint! What an example of service!
"If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and servant of all!"  Jesus' disciples were once arguing among themselves who was the greatest among them. Jesus gave them a response: "The greatest must be the servant of all." So how do we serve? Do we compliment anyone? First of all, we can choose to thank and to appreciate our neighborhood grocer, the garbage man, the pharmacist, the mailman, the people we come in contact daily. Perhaps, we can show our authenticity in service rather than 'giclees' of polished images of ourselves.
   As Christians, we are called to transformation, to become better individuals. In the jungle of 'giclees' how do we notice authenticity? It's more than a question of buying cheap or expensive art! More than images we polish for others! True or technologically polished? Tried or tired? It matters less when an opportunity arises.
   Dirty shoes will always be waiting at our door steps!
   To clean or not to clean?
   To serve or not to serve?