What do Lindsay Lohan and Mother Theresa have in common?

Romania seems so very far away when I am sitting in an office in Euless, TX. Picking plums from worm invested trees and filling dozens of grocery sacks is imprinted on my mind; "How can they possibly do this everyday?" was the predominate thought streaming in my head as I plucked ripe purple fruit.

Hard work is funny, almost romantic when it is simply an idea. Anytime I have painted houses, pruned gardens or picked plums, I reach a point when romance washes away and all that's left is sweat and well...hard work.

There is a volunteering phenomenon when individuals begin to slink away after a few strokes of paint, taking bathroom breaks or attending to prior engagements which cannot be postponed. Here is where the 'Lindsay Lohan's' begin to separate from the 'Mother Theresa's'-- you lose the community-service-required persons and see who is really serving with a determined and compassionate heart.

 More often than not, I am a Lohan. Coerced or guilt-ed into charity work, I can handle it as long someone is around to be impressed. But when the crowd dies down, will I stay around to finish the job?

The funny thing is, most of the Theresa's will never be known because the Good Samaritan Times got their event highlights at the service project kick-off and then headed off to watch New Girl.

I want to learn how to work like the old women in Romania who spend every breath picking plums. I want to climb mountains like my father. I want to hold the sick and the dying in my arms and be the hands of Jesus and not walk away because of prior engagements.

I want to live like Mother Theresa, who said "If I am ever to become a saint, I shall be a saint of darkness. For I shall not be found in heaven, but I shall be found outside as a light guiding the way."