Sit With Me in the Dark

I was walking the Beltline in Atlanta the other day when a little girl maybe around the age of 10 rolled passed me on her scooter. Earlier I had passed her and her parents so I knew they were right behind me. All of a sudden she lost her balance and fell. You could hear the skin scraping on the concrete path. After she stopped sliding, she paused and jumped up. I turned to make sure her parents were as close as I thought they were and while I was looking at them saying “Ouch”, her dad said, “That’s one tough girl.” While he was telling me that simultaneously we heard her cry but her cry wasn’t just about physical pain, it was about embarrassment, it was about her pride. She called saying, “I’m not very good.” She kept saying this over and over with tears streaming.

I felt so bad for that little girl. She kept saying “I’m not very good.” until I could no longer hear her due to walking out of sight. I felt so strongly to go back to her and say, “You are doing great.” I wanted to tell her that Colonel Sanders got rejected over 1000 times before he succeeded with Kentucky Fried Chicken, and I wanted to tell her that Walt Disney was rejected over 300 times before Mickey Mouse came to life. I wanted to tell her about Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Henry Ford and so many more. I wanted to tell her that it’s okay to fall 7 times and get up 8 times. I wished I would have because I never heard her parents say one time that she was doing good or to stop saying that because it wasn’t true. I never heard them support her while she cried insecurity.

Not having support or very limited support my entire life from my parents, grandparents, or authority figures, makes my sensitivity to it off the spectrum. I believe support is a must to heal. I encourage everyone to find at least one person that can support them through thick and thin. People isolate, grieve and feel alone because of a lack of support. We are not supporting people like they need to be supported. I know because I talk to these people weekly. I hear them, see them, and have much compassion for their pain.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:42 “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” I read that and think that he is not talking just about money but anything that anyone needs. And “borrow” means they will return it when you need it. That is how it is supposed to work. Support and love one another.

Let’s try to remember the next time someone falls, fails, or cries for help to support them as we are called to support.