Miss M's Heart

This post from Miss M's Tumblr (like a blog) today is written about her experience at lunch at her Jr. High this afternoon. She told me the story over dinner and I listened, teary-eyed. I am SO glad she wrote it out. I couldn't be more impressed with the heart and character of our kids! (There is NO WAY I would've done that at 14... my unspoken motto was "every man for himself".)

"Today at lunch i was doing what i did every other day, just standing around. But today as i was standing around i head the “popular group” laughing really loud, i turned to look at the bench where they always sit. As i do so i notice they are all looking at this one kid who had just thrown a trash can to the ground, and now the trash was spilled all over the place. The kid started digging through the trash on the ground. Meanwhile the popular group is all still laughing at him.

So i turn to my friend and i said “lets go see what hes doing.”

Now normally i would have just looked, noticed, and gone back to my conversation. But something about the way they were laughing at him made my heart get all angry and furious and i felt bad for the kid.

So my friend and i walk over to him and ask whats going on. He then started to tell us how he threw out his retainer. He sounded so distressed. He was worried about his parents getting mad. And even more mad cause he had done this once before already.

I looked at the popular kids (still laughing) and back at this very upset seventh grader and then i got down on my knees and started digging through the milky gross trash. It was the grossest thing i have done it a while. And i sat there and did it for about 15 minuets. He finally stood up and said “its no use.” then he walked away.

We never found his retainer. And i bet he didnt think twice about the fact that me and my friend had walked over and helped him. But all i know is that on the way to the bathroom to wash our hands, my friend looked at me and said, “wow i feel really good right now.” I silently said a little thank you to God. and finished washing my hands.

We didnt find his retainer. We didnt shove the popular kids in the trash can…even though they deserved it. We really did nothing but tried to help him.

For the rest of the day every time me and my friend looked at each other we just smiled. It felt so good to do a little thing like that. No point at all to do it. But just because he looked like he needed it.

I have been on mission trips, i have volunteered at church events, i have served God in a lot of ways. But today was the weirdest thing. I felt better than i ever had felt on a mission trip and dont know why. It was refreshing to think that i could serve God in little ways around my school for people who might not think much of it. Of course it felt awesome to just defy the popular kids and show them that laughing was not what was needed, this kid just wanted to find his retainer. But in the end it wasnt about defying the popular kids. It was about glorifying God in the little actions throughout my day. And today i feel like i did that very well."

*sigh*... humbled and blessed.