A Story for Holy Week
There are a lot of questions that go through my mind on a somewhat regular basis: Did I email that person back? What should I make for dinner? What is the most clever Instagram caption I can add to this photo? and so on and so on, pretty much guiding the course of my day. One of the guiding questions over the course of my life is how can I make a difference? If you ask me what I mean by that, I'm really not entirely sure. Basically, I want there to be one time, in like 40 years when I maybe retire, that someone can come up to me and say "you really made a difference in my life and helped me be the person that I am today because you ________." So, I'm in the process of trying to figure out what it means to make a difference, mostly by reflecting on those times where someone made a difference in my life. And I thought this particular story was worth sharing.
When I was a freshman in college, my grandma passed away. I found out the Monday before Easter, and I was all the way out in St. Louis. My grandpa had passed away less than a year before, but at least then I was with my family and I was able to comfort them, so this time was very different. My grandma had been sick for a very long time, but I had the incredible gift to be close to all of my grandparents, so the grief still hit hard. I had to lean on the friends that I had made at school to be there for me, even though we had only really known each other for about nine months. And they really went above and beyond for me.
I was leaving to go home on Wednesday for the showing, so that Tuesday afternoon after I heard the news, one of my closest friends found me in my dorm room, and she took me on a field trip to the florist on campus. She bought a dozen roses and one sunflower, and she informed me that we were going to walk through campus and hand out the roses to people that we passed who looked like they could use a little light in their day. So we did, handing out these roses to people we passed, some confused, some with huge smiles. When we had handed out all of the roses, I asked what the sunflower was for. My friend informed me that the sunflower was for me (sunflowers are my favorite flower). This whole excursion took less than 30 minutes, but those 30 minutes granted me a sense of comfort and peace that had been really hard to come by since I had heard the news. She gave me happiness by allowing me to participate in the happiness of others.
Today is the Monday before Easter. It's always a week that becomes the culmination of many things. Lent, one of my favorite liturgical seasons, is coming to an end. The anticipation for Easter picks up, with all of its joy and celebration. And among it all, we are reminded of the sacrifice that was made for us in the crucifixion. That one moment continues to make the difference in my life. I will never be on the level of Jesus, but maybe I can still find some small way to make a difference this week.
When I was a freshman in college, my grandma passed away. I found out the Monday before Easter, and I was all the way out in St. Louis. My grandpa had passed away less than a year before, but at least then I was with my family and I was able to comfort them, so this time was very different. My grandma had been sick for a very long time, but I had the incredible gift to be close to all of my grandparents, so the grief still hit hard. I had to lean on the friends that I had made at school to be there for me, even though we had only really known each other for about nine months. And they really went above and beyond for me.
I was leaving to go home on Wednesday for the showing, so that Tuesday afternoon after I heard the news, one of my closest friends found me in my dorm room, and she took me on a field trip to the florist on campus. She bought a dozen roses and one sunflower, and she informed me that we were going to walk through campus and hand out the roses to people that we passed who looked like they could use a little light in their day. So we did, handing out these roses to people we passed, some confused, some with huge smiles. When we had handed out all of the roses, I asked what the sunflower was for. My friend informed me that the sunflower was for me (sunflowers are my favorite flower). This whole excursion took less than 30 minutes, but those 30 minutes granted me a sense of comfort and peace that had been really hard to come by since I had heard the news. She gave me happiness by allowing me to participate in the happiness of others.
Today is the Monday before Easter. It's always a week that becomes the culmination of many things. Lent, one of my favorite liturgical seasons, is coming to an end. The anticipation for Easter picks up, with all of its joy and celebration. And among it all, we are reminded of the sacrifice that was made for us in the crucifixion. That one moment continues to make the difference in my life. I will never be on the level of Jesus, but maybe I can still find some small way to make a difference this week.
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