Last Sunday I preached a sermon based on the beatitude in Scripture: Blessed are the Merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  In response to the thoughts I shared, one of my dear ladies at church, who works on one of the campuses in the school system here, shared this story.  I found it inspiring and felt it needed to be passed on!

I remembered a year earlier, my daughter had shared what had happened at lunch that first day of school. She and her friends had commandeered their table, which, for everybody who knows the rules of high school cafeterias, knows it would be theirs for the remainder of the year. They noticed a lone girl, holding her tray, looking desperately for somewhere to sit, someone to say, “Over here – Come sit with us!” They didn’t know her very well but none the less offered her a place to sit. When my daughter shared this story with me we didn’t linger on the subject very long and she was really pretty “matter of fact” about the whole thing. I simply told her how nice she had been and we moved on to other topics of the day. Little did we know the difference she had made in this young lady’s life.

The young lady went on to tell me how grateful she was that day. She was a part of that lunch group for the remainder of the school year and it meant the world to her. She fit in with some of the “cool” kids – at least for 30 minutes of the day.

We’ve all been there…..even as grownups….waiting for someone to say, “Over here – come sit with us.” I learned a lesson on mercy that day. I was reminded that I should offer it more often. Like my daughter had. And I couldn’t be prouder.