Making a Difference

A few weeks ago after I had picked Nick up from practice we had a brief conversation that lingered in my mind for many days.

Nick began his conversation by saying, “Mom, I don’t know if I want to go to River Valley next year.” This immediately shocked me because from the moment ground was broken for this new high school he had his mind set on going there. There was a time that I wanted him to go to a smaller high school but even I have adjusted to my son being a Falcon next year.

I asked him why all of a sudden he was having doubts.

Nick doesn’t share a lot of things with me. Part of me wants him to, and a bigger part of me remembers what it was like being his age and the last person I really wanted to confide in was a parent. So I’m ok with him not pouring his heart out to me every second of the day. I try not to pry and hope that if it’s not me he chooses to talk to that he has someone else.

This particular night he allowed me the opportunity to share in what was troubling him…for a little while. Then he remembered that it was his mom that he was talking to and ended the conversation just as quickly as it had begun.

From what I gathered, he was disheartened in hearing his peers talking negatively about someone and he realized that he didn’t want to attend a school where kids/friends did that to others. Sadly, that’s a very inevitable season of “growing up” and it won’t matter if you attend a school of 300 or 3000. Hazing, backstabbing, mockery, lying…all seem to be the price you pay to become “popular” in a teenage society.

Thankfully, I have a boy with a big heart. I have a son who knows the difference between right and wrong. A child who is troubled when he recognizes how evil some people can be.

As I thought about this conversation there was one thing in particular that stayed with me. God had placed something on my heart and I was compelled to share it with Nick.

A week had passed and as Nick was getting his football gear ready for practice I told him I wanted to share something with him in regards to the situation.

“Nick, I know that you may not feel like you want to go to River Valley anymore and I understand. But one thing that I would really like you to think about is that maybe God wants you there so you can stick up for those kids. It’s not an easy thing to do, and surely isn’t the “popular” thing to do, but you might be the only one who cares enough to take a stand.”

As I spoke those words to him I began to tear up. Not just because I was having this conversation with my own child, but as I spoke those words to him I thought about the people in my own life.

How am I extending kindness to those around me? How can I reach out to extend compassion on a complete stranger? What am I doing for “the least of these?”

Everyone is placed in our lives for a reason. Do we look for that reason or do we let the moments slip by and assume someone else will meet their need? Sometimes we are only given one chance to make a difference.

What we might think is a small gesture of kindness could end up meaning the world to someone else.