Don't Judge a Book...

...you know the rest.  "Don't judge a book by its cover".  Today as we were driving around (to garage sales, of course), my boys were watching a Thomas the Train movie and there was a song about not judging books by the covers, obviously teaching them not to judge people.  Such an important lesson to learn, and why not talk about it while we are "looking for the good in people"?

Here's my story.  When I was 14 years old, I flew to Nicaragua for an Ultimate Workout Mission Trip sponsored by my church.  It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and it led me to two other mission trips, a semester abroad, and my career today.  However, as that 14 year old girl, I definitely had some things to learn...

...at the time, I had completed two years of Spanish classes, and I felt pretty confident in my abilities.  For that reason, I became kind of an unofficial "translator" for our work site.  I was so proud of myself, and I got such a thrill from being a link between the wonderful people there and all of the amazing volunteers I was working with.  Obviously I could not carry on conversations in Spanish yet, but I knew enough to get the point across, and I think I really was helpful to the group.

Our job at our site was to build a church in one week.  Yes, one week.  Well, about 10 days.  And believe it or not, we did it.  It was one of the most fulfilling weeks of my life.  As we sat in the church--the church that we built--the following Saturday, our group leaders asked us to mingle with the natives and sit by them during the services.  I sat towards the back, and a beautiful Nicaraguan girl, probably in her 20s, sat down beside me.  She smiled;  I smiled.  We turned our attention to the sermon, sang some songs in both English and Spanish, and then the service was over.  Everyone began mingling and talking, and yet she and I just sat there, still smiling.

  We had exchanged a few "holas" and "feliz sabado" (Happy Sabbath), but beyond that, our interaction was minimal.  I remember thinking during the service about how beautiful she was and being afraid to use my broken Spanish with her.  I kept reminding myself that she didn't know any English and would be very grateful to have someone to talk to in Spanish...that's what finally got me to start up the conversation.  I turned toward her, my heart pounding, and said "Como te llamas?" (What's your name?).  My mind started racing about what I would say next, how I would communicate with this girl who didn't speak English and who obviously wanted to interact with me.

After I asked her name, she smiled a big smile (yet again!) and opened her mouth and said, in perfect English, "My name is...." (Sadly I can't remember her name...I wish I had written it down in my journals).  Anyhow, you get the point.  The entire time we had been smiling at each other and not speaking, we were both going through the same thing in our heads--I was afraid to use my Spanish, and she was afraid to use her English.  And beyond that, I had made an assumption;  I had judged her.  Just because she had grown up in a remote village in Nicaragua did not necessarily mean that she was not educated, or that she didn't know English.  We went on to have a nice conversation, in Spanish and in English, and I will never forget the way I felt that day.

We can't judge books by their covers.  We just can't.  And even though we know this to be true, so often we are still doing it when we meet people.  Let's try our hardest to break that habit.  I wish it were as easy as the catchy little song that the animated trains are singing to my kids on the Thomas video, but it's just not that simple.  And yet, it's not impossible either.  Don't let your preconceived ideas and your prejudices stop you from meeting some amazing people in your life.  You just never know who's behind that smile!