Show Thyself Friendly

I was just putting my things into my locker in the gym when a young girl, perhaps eleven or twelve, came running through the door past me to the restroom area.  A few moments later, another girl of the same age came into the locker room crying.  She sat at the end of the first bench and held her ankle.  By that time her friend came around the corner with a folded pad of paper towels which she had soaked with cold water.



I wasn't initially sure what the second girl's injury was, but I watched them closely.  Her friend hovered over her, solicitous of anything she could do to relieve the other one's suffering.   At one point she left the locker room in search of an ice pack.



Still wearing my scrubs, I walked over to the injured girl, Lauren, and sat beside her.  I asked her if she was ok.  She sobbed out the story of her injury.  Apparently the two girls were enrolled in the youth athletic program and the trainer had been playing a game of Dodge ball with them.  The ball came in contact with her ankle, perhaps with a little more force than he had intended, and she fell down.

I looked at her ankle, rotated it to determine if anything was broken, removed her shoe and her sock and decided that it was more her feelings which were wounded than her leg.  A hug and some kind words went a long way to putting her on the road to recovery.



Meanwhile her friend returned.  I reminded Lauren that she had a very good friend to help her so much when she was hurting.  The friend, whose name I never caught, told me, "I was sick a while back and Lauren took good care of me.  My mother calls her 'The Nurse'."  Only now beginning to change from my nursing scrubs to my gym clothes, I assured her there were few things better that she could be called.



I was so impressed with the nameless girl who sought so diligently to be a friend when needed.  More so, I was impressed that when I tried to compliment her on her behavior, she pointed it right back at her friend.  Lauren, too, deserves my respect because it was her display of friendship and caring which had made such an impression upon her friend and even her friend's mother.

I have often said the Lord has lessons for us from anyone, and today proved that to be true.  Two young girls and their friendship and love were great teachers inside a locker room.

"A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly." 

Proverbs 18:24