Beautiful Message, Great Job, Proud of You, Those Are Appropriate Words

I attended Easter “Sonrise” Service this morning at my church. It was led by the youth group and they did a fabulous job. The sermon was delivered by a young girl and she wrote the message herself. It was a strain to hear her over the wind, but it was a wonderful message and I was very impressed.

After the service I went to seek out this girl and tell her how moved I was and how impressed I was by her message. When I found her there was another member of the church with her. He was questioning her about what she learned this morning upon delivering her message. It basically came down to she wasn’t dressed warm enough, she wasn’t prepared for the wind, and one other problem that I can’t remember. I probably can’t remember because I was livid. Yes, he was peppering it with you did a good job but…blah, blah, next time do this, but I did not feel as if it was his place to do anything more than congratulate her and praise her. He definitely should have let her enjoy her time in the church this morning.

I asked my boys if I do that to them after a big special event in their lives, and they both said “No, Never.” Then I asked my oldest about when he was in sports and he said “Yes.” Then we talked about that and decided that was different because in his sport he needed feedback from someone behind him to see what was happening and what needed to be corrected. Even if I have been guilty of this with my boys, I would never consider doing it to a child that wasn’t mine.

I really wanted to take this man outside and talk to him, but having dealt with him in the past, I knew it would be useless. Hopefully, this young girl will be able to overlook this man’s words and know that she did a good job and wrote a beautiful message. I also hope that she is old enough to know to consider the source.