Lean on Me

The name of our business is a dead giveaway that Shelly and I are believers. Sometimes they "know we are Christians" (as the old hymn goes) by our words, actions, and love that we show.  Sometimes, unfortunately, people have to look a bit deeper. That's because we're humans. God's grace has us covered, when we stray. But regardless if you are a believer or not, we hope you see we are like you in some ways. And even though threads of our spiritual beliefs are woven into our business, our blog posts, our social media, and our business name we are on a journey...as are all people. We all have that in common. So, regardless of your religious stance, please read to the end. I think you will make a connection as well.  On the Christian calendar, we are in the time of Lent. In very basic terms, this is a period of preparation for Easter. So, as most of you know, Shelly and I teach at a Catholic school. During Lent, I have been doing times of study, reflection, prayer, and making connections with my First Graders. It is a sweet, special time. This past week, I was telling my students that Jesus understands any pain we will ever go through, and we can always pray to him. He understands. One of my sweet girls said she understood pain because her Pa-Paw died. And every time she goes to his house, she is so sad to look at his chair.  And she started crying. This broke my heart, as I have a personal connection to her experience. I was trying to comfort her (without collapsing into a crying mess myself). I looked up, and one of the other girls was hurrying to get tissues. One of my big rough and tough boys was sitting there quietly sobbing for her. He was crying because of her pain.  Another boy was patting his back. The rest of the children were just sitting silently. They knew she needed this moment. It was one of those times, that I knew that moment was important. All of the other learning experiences we had that day were suddenly unimportant. Because in that moment, those precious six and seven year olds really listened. They listened to her sorrow. They listened to me telling them it's ok to cry. They listened to me tell them that sometimes the only thing you can do for a friend is cry with them. They learned about compassion. They learned that friends need each other. Friends, if all you can do is get a tissue for someone, that is enough. If all you can do is cry with a friend, that is huge. Sometimes we can help by simply giving someone the time they need to grieve without judging.  Also, don't deny a friend those same opportunities to serve you in those ways. We all need each other.