Sometimes people need a
friend and your ‘hi’ can change someone’s day or even their life.
It was a beautiful sunny day
as the sun beat down on my face and I squinted my eyes to see. I sat in the soft lush green grass as I
observed all around me. Some parents had
come from miles and day drives away to see their child perform. There were students running this way and that
preparing for their first huge performance of the year. It was their first year as a student and they
were excited to show their best. They
were setting up props and placing microphones in their place. A girl in a black ballet outfit ran across
the stage to get to the other side to give someone a tip. Others were dressed in baggy jeans with a
baseball hat turned sideways. The
performance wasn’t for another hour and a half, but friends were starting to
come and socialize early while they ate their hot dog and candy bar bought at
the snack table.
As I looked around, I saw
someone I knew…Elzette! She is the girl
staying in the same house as us (but on weekends, she stays with her
grandma). As soon as I spotted her, I
got up to go and sit next to her. I
greeted her and explained how happy I was to see her. She introduced me to the girl who was sitting
next to her and we started talking. She
was quiet and shy but so sweet. Elzette
had to walk away and do something but this girl and I kept talking. Her parents were far away and she missed
them. She hesitated to open up too much
not knowing me at all. She went to talk
to some others and Elzette came back.
She said, this girl has had a really rough time and doesn’t have a lot
of friends. she struggles with having
confidence and the fact that you cared enough and really wanted to get to know
who she is, makes all the difference in the world to her.
As I prayed for this girl
just in my own heart to God, I felt God prompting me to go and sit next to her
on the ground, so I did and a big smile came over her class. She was shocked that I would seek her out and
want to get to know her even more. We
talked about all kinds of things: what she was studying, what things she liked
to do, her favorite candy bar etc…later when she went to get something to eat,
I felt God wanted me to buy her favorite candy bar for her so I did and gave it
to her. She wasn’t expecting that and
was surprised that someone she didn’t even know would care enough to do even
that simple thing for her.
The performance drew closer
and other students had come and gone and new had come to sit on the blanket we
were on and as I met many new people, I stuck close to my friend. I pressed in.
it was getting darker and colder and she asked if she could run to her
room on campus and grab me a sweatshirt.
She didn’t know I get cold easily, but it was such a blessing to me.
Many times we don’t
know people’s backgrounds, we don’t know
where they come from, what their thinking or feeling inside. Sometimes keeping your ears open to the
simple little things in everyday life can be what changes someone’s day or life
forever! You never know…I don’t know
what little impact I made in this girl, but I do know that it made her smile
and she had a good time…maybe I just made her day! J What if that was my part to play in her life…maybe
that’s all God called me to, but I could have even missed an opportunity to
make her smile. I know I miss so many
opportunities all the time because I’m learning and my selfishness is still
there. I still focus on myself and my
own life, so much so sometimes that I miss all the people around me.
I feel as though I’ve
written many blogs with the same message, but I’m finding that the little
things is what life is all about. And
actually it’s not even about the little things, life is about listening to God
in every moment. THAT’S what life is all
about. Life is about BEING so close to
God, KNOWING Him so well, knowing His heartbeat and knowing His voice, that we
know it when we hear it. It’s a
process. We’re human. God knows we may hear Him wrong at times, but
if we don’t try, we are missing every opportunity. As we seek to truly KNOW Him, we come more
accustom to His voice…the voice of our Shephard.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;“
~John 10
