Bottling it

When was the last time you bottled it?

I was on a train journey home, sat in front of me was a group of lads drinking cans of lager, swearing loudly at each other and blaring drum and bass from their mobiles. I couldn’t help but be frustrated along with half of the carriage. I noticed a girl sat in the middle of the group, clearly tagged along for the ride, sitting quietly in the middle of the chaos. She topped up her makeup and restyled her hair every few minutes, checking her appearance in a compact mirror. She peeled off and re-applied her fake eyelashes. 

That was when I got the nudge. I’m not sure if you’ve ever experience a nudge like that before, but it felt like a bucket of ice cold water had been thrown over my head. God told me to go and chat to her, tell her that she is beautiful, that she is loved and that she didn’t need to be afraid. I said no. I got the nudge again. Ice cold bucket of water. I said no again and bottled it, scared of the eruption that may come from the lads. 

When the train arrived into the next platform the group of lads left the train with the girl in quick pursuit. The boys waved goodbye to the girl, she sat on the floor and just as my train started to move again she started to cry. I should have told her that she is loved but I bottled it.

It’s natural to bottle it, but I wish I hadn’t. God calls us to be bold people who seek out the vulnerable and in need to show them how much they are loved. 2 Timothy 1:7 says ‘For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline’. Let’s be bold followers of Jesus as we start our university adventure.