Inexperienced

Inexperienced

Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.

1 Timothy 4:12

“How could anyone so young really know about grief? You haven’t lived enough yet.”

The words stung and hung in the air as I sat in a grief training session for new hospice workers. She spoke the words as if to anyone, but I knew she meant them for me. Younger than everyone else in the group by at least twenty years, I had just taken my first social-work job at a local hospice agency.

As I was fresh out of college and inexperienced, my supervisor sent me to a conference to help me feel equipped and prepared to visit people in their homes, and here I sat, shamed for nothing other than my age. Tears welled up in my eyes as I swallowed the lump in my throat, too embarrassed to reply, thinking of my sister who had been given the diagnosis of cancer only a couple of years earlier and all the joys and heartaches we’d known during her treatments.

I went home after the conference, and when she asked, I told my supervisor of my experience. She was shocked that someone could be so ignorant as to believe that a young person would not know what loss was all about, and her indignation over such an insensitive statement gave me the confidence to do my job anyway. She met with me weekly that year, asking how I was doing and offering me invaluable wisdom that I still cherish today.

Sometimes it is easy to disregard the young as too inexperienced or unknowing, but the Bible is clear that we shouldn’t think less of anyone just because they are young. Young people can still be an example to all believers in the things they say and in the way they live. It seems that God values the young people who are just starting out their journeys, and so should we. Yes, they may need guidance, but they also may have fresh ideas and insight that we all need to hear.

—Kendra

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Take the time to respectfully listen to the thoughts or insights of someone who is younger than you.