New People and Friends

I know just how hard it can be to make new friends. Everyone tends to gravitate toward who they know, myself included. As a shy kind of person I find it difficult to thrust myself into a group of new people, so I tend to stay on the fringes of a crowd and observe.

For example, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage with youth at church. A lot of the people in my youth group know each other from school. Everyone is friendly, but when the "greeting time" is over people go sit with others that they know. I do that, too. And most of the time that works okay. But sometimes the two people that I know are not there and I find myself sitting alone or beside one of the adult leaders. When this happens I think, "I really wish that someone would invite me to sit with them."

I admit that I'm a part of the problem. I'm shy. So, instead of meeting new people I'm stickin' with my friends. We should follow Jesus' example and love the "insiders" and the "outsiders". We should be focusing on Christ and living our ways according to His plan. And because the two greatest commandments both involve love (loving God first and your neighbors second) I believe that that it what I should be doing. Because I know how hard it is for me to include myself in someone else's conversation and how hard it is to find someone to sit with. When I see the "new kid" walk in I should invite them to sit with me and include them in my conversation. I'm going to try to do this. How about you?