“Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.” Ephesians 5:2
To this day I still remember my biggest regret from my days at Oak Grove elementary school. This isn’t regret that I realize now, that I didn’t know then. Instead, I knew then what I didn’t do that I should have done.
Here it is: I should have been a friend.
I had a lot of friends and for the most part I think I was a good friend. But, there was a girl that I intentionally kept at a distance, simply because she smelled.
Her odor made her an outcast.
This girl from my childhood came to mind recently when our children in our afterschool program were encouraged by our children’s director to “Walk Up, Not Out.” Here is the poster from our program that explains the idea:
At a time when activism is encouraging people to speak up and walk out, I doubt either of those things would have made a difference to that little girl sitting alone in the lunch room. Then again, writing and reflecting now does nothing for her either. But maybe, I will see a person this week, walk up to them, take them to lunch, and treat them like a friend. Whether it does anything to change their life doesn’t really matter. The point is to change mine.