They Are Not Alone! – CHAPLAIN'S CORNER

“Chaplain’s Corner” is a regular feature written by the Children’s Home chaplain, Rev. LuAnne Wages-Smith

Take a moment and think back. Do you remember your first day of school? How old were you? Did you know what was going on?

It can be very confusing especially for the little ones. My family has the story of my Uncle Vernon who lived right down the street from his school. On his very first day of school he came home three times–at recess, at lunch, and at snack time. He told his mother, “they let me out.” Of course his mother kept taking him back to school.

But in the afternoon once school was over he didn’t come home with all the other children. When my grandmother–we called her “Mama”–arrived at the school, she found him sitting on the steps, dwarfed by the bigness of the building. When asked why he hadn’t come home he said, “Well, every time I come home you bring me back!”

It isn’t just the little ones, though, who get scared and confused that very first day of school. Several of our children graduated from high school last year, or received their GED, and many of them began college in August. But their stories are different.

Like my family, these children also buy new school clothes, get school supplies, go to orientation and then come back and pack their bags. But they don’t spend hours deciding what they want to take to college on that first day. They must take everything they have.

For most college students this is a wonderful and exciting time. They are finally on their own. But for our kids it’s just one more time to start over! This one more time, they will have a new place to hang their clothes, brush their teeth, and a new place to sleep. In most cases they will also have a new roommate–probably one they have never met and did not get to choose.

They won’t ever go back and sleep in their childhood beds again. All of that, and all those they knew are behind them, and they truly are on their own.

I stopped by to deliver some school supplies to one of our college students, and asked if they had eaten. My plans were to take them to lunch somewhere of their choice. My agenda was to let them know that they are not alone, and that we still love them.

What I discovered was that they had eaten in the cafeteria the day before, but it was so big, and they had decided to just cook some noodles and not go back that day. It was just so big and they were all alone.

But they are not alone!!!! Not now and not ever. Their name is written on the palm of God’s hand right next to our names, and our last names are “Christian,” or “Christ’s own,” and WE ARE FAMILY!!!!

I will go back and take others with me. We will invite the director of the school’s Wesley Foundation to join us for supper. We want this student–all of our students–to know that our United Methodist family is still their family.

Namasté and Shalom
LuAnne