The Lunch Table
Tuesdays and Thursdays are my busier days. I go from study hall with the 7th graders until 12:25 to music with elementary students at 12:55. It seems a waste to spend 15 of those minutes walking to instead I eat in the cafeteria.
At first I looked for other adults to eat with, but found that they were not always there are Tuesdays and Thursdays like me. Eventually, I ended up with the 5th and 6th grader girls, the same girls I see every Thursday night for dorm cover. I've always liked junior highers, know how to talk to adults and they don't seem to be worried about a lot. They aren't prone to gossip. To be honest, I'm not sure if I know what they talk about each day, it's rarely the same and somehow it's not memorable, but it's worth being around for. I've been impressed with this group, because unlike some they ask about me too sometimes. It may be their curiosity or they genuinely may care, but this quality somehow disappears for the 4 years they are in high school. This is not why I sit with them. I enjoy them for things we talk about that don't matter in the least and that we won't recall the next day.
One such day after eating and talking I got up to put away my dishes. It was then that I realized the girls had no more dishes. They had waited for me to finish. It stuck me as sweet, but it wasn't until a few weeks later when I was eating with a group of 7th grade girls who did the same thing that I knew these kids were being led by the Holy Spirit. Who else would tell them to do such a considerate thing. Two separate groups of girls, from two separate dorms had waited for another, quietly staying until I was done.
Our conversations at the lunch table may not hold past the next day, but the work of the Spirit is something to relish.
At first I looked for other adults to eat with, but found that they were not always there are Tuesdays and Thursdays like me. Eventually, I ended up with the 5th and 6th grader girls, the same girls I see every Thursday night for dorm cover. I've always liked junior highers, know how to talk to adults and they don't seem to be worried about a lot. They aren't prone to gossip. To be honest, I'm not sure if I know what they talk about each day, it's rarely the same and somehow it's not memorable, but it's worth being around for. I've been impressed with this group, because unlike some they ask about me too sometimes. It may be their curiosity or they genuinely may care, but this quality somehow disappears for the 4 years they are in high school. This is not why I sit with them. I enjoy them for things we talk about that don't matter in the least and that we won't recall the next day.
One such day after eating and talking I got up to put away my dishes. It was then that I realized the girls had no more dishes. They had waited for me to finish. It stuck me as sweet, but it wasn't until a few weeks later when I was eating with a group of 7th grade girls who did the same thing that I knew these kids were being led by the Holy Spirit. Who else would tell them to do such a considerate thing. Two separate groups of girls, from two separate dorms had waited for another, quietly staying until I was done.
Our conversations at the lunch table may not hold past the next day, but the work of the Spirit is something to relish.
Comments
Post a Comment