A Lesson Disquised as a 12 year old

Last night I was helping with a 6th Grade confirmation class at the church. They were helping stuff Easter eggs and then afterwards we fed them pizza. Wow! I forgot how much energy 12 year olds have! They definitely kept me on my toes. I also forgot how much 12 year old guy eat! Haha. After they all had their pizza they were sitting down in the room just eating and talking amongst themselves and I just stood back and watched. I had forgotten how much fun kids are at that age, and at the same time what a difficult period of life it is for them. As I was listening in on all the conversations that were going around the table (thankfully they are still at the age where boys sit on one end and the girls sit on the other end) I noticed a little girl who was sitting all by herself and looked a little lonely. She was somewhat close to the large group of girls that you could tell were the "popular" girls, but definitely not a part of them. Now, I know exactly how those girls operate, so I walked over to the girl who was sitting by herself and asked her if I could sit next to her. Then I started talking about how much I loved her outfit and we started discussing clothes and school and everything else. Sure enough, every single one of the girls in the large group began staring at us wondering why I was complimenting this girl and talking to her. I think this girl will have some new friends from now on :)

We've all been in that situation at one time or another, just waiting for someone to reach out to us and show us that they care about how we feel. I am constantly being reminded that I can have so much more of an impact on someones life by reaching out to those who aren't necessarily the cool crowd than the ones who already have so much going for them they don't see the need for Jesus, or even another friend for that matter. I never realized that I could use my Junior High/High School experiences to help young girls going through the same things. What a blessing!