Hurting People

I have a male student in class this year.  For a couple of weeks, he would refuse to work, would roll his eyes when I complained and was very disrespectful.  I do not know why I chose to "wait it out" instead of really lashing out at him, but I did.

Finally, I kept him after class and asked him what was going on.  He rolled his eyes and said, "Nothing that concerns You."  I told him that as his teacher everything concerned me.  Then he said, "well, nothing you can do anything about."  I told him that I could at least pray about it even if I could do nothing else.  Immediately, his facial expressions softened just a bit.

Suddenly, he broke down crying...........and told me that his parents had been fighting for a few weeks and it was getting worse instead of better.  He said they were talking about divorcing.............and his life was crumbling.

NO WONDER he had an attitude!!!

Look around you..................how many adults that appear to have attitudes are using that as a cover for hurts?  I bet we would discover that to be the case many times....even in our own church families. 

To shorten the story..........a couple of days later, the student came into class and was actually doing his work and asking questions.  His attitude appeared much better.  I kept him after class again and asked how it was going..........his reply was, "a little better.....I think the prayers are working.....please keep praying.....and I am praying every night too."

My prayer is that we all will take the time to slow down and look at the big picture.............reach out to hurting folks.  The ones with the worst attitudes may be covering a hurting heart.