Armadillos

    Some teachers make a big deal over each child on his or her birthday with balloons tied to the desk seat and streamers hanging from the ceiling. I never have. Not because I have something against these celebratory measures, but more likely because of procrastination. There is, however, one child's special day that remains forever in my mind.

    Adam's mother had brought treats for the class to celebrate his birthday. While we waited for her to finish preparing them, the students and I wandered out to the playground. Someone suggested we play games. Soon the game ideas were exhausted. The children wanted to play something new and different. 

    "I know!"Adam exclaimed, his freckled face lighting up. "Let's play acting out!" The others agreed, and Adam volunteered to go first. 

    We watched as he sprang up on the picnic table, then leaped off, arms and legs thrashing. We looked on in awe as he began rolling violently around on the ground. I began to question my wisdom in supporting this game. At last he stopped.

    "OK, what was I?" he asked, a little breathlessly. 

    The rest of his classmates and I looked at each other blankly. We had absolutely no clue what Adam had been portraying. 

    After a few feeble guesses, Adam looked at us in exasperation. "No! I was an armadillo rolling down steps!" he declared, amazed that we hadn't caught the obvious resemblance. 

    How were we supposed to know that? We couldn't read Adam's mind!

    So many times our relationships with other people turn out the same way. We have no clue what is going on in another person's mind. 

    When someone is rude to us, we immediately take it personally. Instead of seeing the annoying comments as a cry for friendship, we tend to write the person off. We aren't cognizant of the fact that the condescending remark may be a cover-up for insecurity and inferiority. Maybe the other person is doing all they can to just hold things together and not melt into a puddle of tears. 

    People try to hide so many things. We may never know the reason for how someone acted. There's a good possibility they will never stand up, brush the dirt from their knees, and tell us they were being an armadillo. 

    A revelation would be nice, but we won't always get one. Those are the times we must choose to do our best to show the love of God working in us, and accept the armadillos just as they are.