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Thursday, April 7, 2011

How to Change a Life

Tonight at church, we talked with the youth about serving others. We talked about how to be a servant of Jesus, and how we can be a servant to those around us. A story was brought up, one that passes around often in the email-forwards world. I've received it many times before and love it every time I read it. It never fails to make me stop and think about the opportunities God puts in my life to impact others. Do I miss opportunities to help someone out? Do I act when I can?

You have probably already read this, but it's even better the second time around. Regardless of any embellishment it's received from being circulated on the internet, it's rooted in complete truth from one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books of the mid 1990's. And this kind of thing happens all over the world, every single day.


One day, when I was a freshman in high school,
His name was Kyle.
It looked like he was carrying all of his books.
He must really be a nerd."
As I was walking, I s aw a bunch of kids running toward him.
He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes
They really should get lives.
There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.
He said he had gone to private school before now.
He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.
I asked him if he wanted to play a little football
with my friends
He said yes.
"He just laughed and handed me half the books.
When we were seniors we began to think about college.
Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke.
Kyle was valedictorian of our class.
I teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech for graduation.
Graduation day, I saw Kyle.
He looked great.
He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.
Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days.
I could see that he was nervous about his speech.
“Thanks," he said.
As h e started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began
I am going to tell you a story."
He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.
He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.
"Thankfully, I was saved.
My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."
Not until that moment did I realize its depth.
Never underestimate the power of your actions.
With one small gesture you can change a person's life.
For better or for worse.
Look for God in others.


This challenges me to look really closely at those around me, without judging them. There's another saying, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." -Plato 
We don't know what other people are dealing with, and it might be us who can help them.

1 comment:

  1. I always love that story Laura. I could read it 100 times. May we always make a difference.


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