INSPIRASUNS

Last night my husband and I went to dinner at our favorite restaurant. The owners, Corrine from Australia and Veljko from Serbia, have a wonderful place. Their hospitality is top-notch, and the care they take to help their team grow and learn is almost a lost art in today’s world. They care about their employees, and you can see that in the longevity of those who work there.

We settled into our table when we arrived last night, after being greeted so warmly by the staff. They congratulated us on our anniversary and asked our secret to being together so long. Oh, ya, that’s for another little blog sometime. Anyway, back to settling in at the table.

My husband and I ordered a beverage and began to look at the menu. Summertime in Naples provides for different menus, and we were enjoying trying to make a decision on what to order. It wasn’t long before I saw a young man heading our way with a tray of our drinks. I guessed he was in his early 20s. As he got to the table and started to hand to me my drink, I noticed his hands were shaking terribly. “Oh my goodness”, I thought, this poor young man is nervous as can be. I held my hands up to take the drink, as he held the glass, continuing to shake. “Here, let me help you”, I said. He continued to try to get the drink to the table, shaking all the way. Before I knew it, the bottom of the glass hit the edge of the table, and all over me went the dirty martini I had ordered. Alrighty then…

The young man was horrified. He was apologizing profusely as he grabbed the glass from the floor (which impressively had not broken, thank goodness). The rest of the team came scampering over with towels and such to help get things cleaned up. They moved us to another table as I laughed and assured everyone it was ok. The apologies continued, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the young man. You could see he was just devastated.

We began to go about our evening, and I, at one point, told my husband I wanted to make sure to stop and talk to this young man on the way out. My husband encouraged me to have him come over sooner rather than later, “It might make his evening go a little easier”. I asked Corrine if she would send the young man over. I learned that his name was Tommy 🙂 .

It wasn’t long before Tommy sheepishly came walking to the table. I greeted him and asked him how long he’d been working at the restaurant. He said he’d been there almost two months, and this was his first week bringing drinks to the tables from the bar. Ahhh….great… I simply told him to learn from tonight, but not to let it hold him back. I told him he has a bright future, “You’ll have days where things happen, learn from ’em and then get back on the horse”. He thanked me for the kind comments and for being so understanding.

I learned later from Veljko that Tommy, well, he’s only 17. Yes, 17. He is a straight-A student and has recently received a full scholarship to college. He plans to go on to medical school. I smiled as I heard this. Veljko and his wife work with young adults like this, teaching them the hospitality industry, the value of hard work, and the opportunities before you when you are willing to put in the effort to learn.

At this time, when all we hear about is how our young people don’t want to work, it was a joy to see the opposite. I thanked Father last night for the gift of Tommy and his drive to be better. I thanked Father for the hope that our youth are better than we hear. I asked Father to watch over Tommy and all those in his generation, that they may know the love that our Lord has for them.

Friends, say a prayer for our youth. They are our future. May they grow to know the value of honest work, treating people with respect, and being humble. More importantly, may they have a relationship with Jesus that will see them through everything as they grow.

Have a good day friends. Prayers as always for the return of our sweet Emily Rea.

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.