There was one girl from Tempe who decided it was her job to see how angry she could make our girls and how appealing she could be to our boys. Our group sat at the back of the bus, so she took every opportunity to elbow her way to the rear bathroom. She spent her time making rude comments to our girls and making goo goo eyes at our guys. Within minutes the girls were planning how they were going to take her out and the guys were trying to figure out how to get her alone on a full bus.
By the time we got to Oakbridge, even the leaders were ready to park the bus on this young lady. At our first cabin time, we decided we needed to deal with the tension between our girls and Tempe's girl. This was an annoying distraction that was escalating quickly.
So we came up with a 3 word prayer. SOFTEN HER HEART! Her obnoxious behavior was binding our girls together as they viewed her as an enemy. Every meal and every activity we did were tarnished with the girls bullying each other. What we leaders quickly realized was that our, not so perfect girls needed a 3 word prayer of their own. SOFTEN OUR HEARTS became our new prayer.
Before the week was through, our girls learned that this Tempe middle schooler was living with a relative because her mom and dad were in jail. The horrors of her life SOFTENED THEIR HEARTS. Realizing that she acted ugly to others to avoid getting judged for her life, our girls began to befriend her. The ride back to Tempe was full of laughter instead of aggravation. Even our boys backed off when they got to know her circumstances.
How often we see someone acting hateful and we begin matching them hateful with hateful. If only our 1st reaction was to give them a little grace. How we treat others is a choice we make. There is a saying, 'PEOPLE NEED LOVE ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY DON'T DESERVE IT.'
I pray that in the future, my 1st reaction is not to match ugliness with ugliness.
In Him,
Joyful
2-20-2010
2-20-2010
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