Have you ever arrived home and found food stuck in your teeth and wished someone had told you before that important meeting? Found your trouser fly half-way down and wished someone had quietly mentioned it to you?
This week in Chapel we explored the story of Samuel and Eli, especially looking at how important honesty can be even when it's difficult. We are continuing our series on "brotherhood" a look at how we can be really positive supports and influences to those around us.
In our story this week a young Samuel is serving under Eli; Israel's aging high priest. God speaks to young Samuel one night and gives him a message of severe judgement for Eli. Terrified Samuel tosses and turns through a long sleepless night dreading the morning. Eli knows God has given Samuel a message and exhorts him to share it.
The willingness to speak difficult truth is a trait often exemplified in the Bible. I know looking back on my life the friends who have been willing to gently confront me about my faults and weaknesses are those who have been most precious to me. Friends I knew actually wanted the best for me, who were willing to point out those things I would rather have ignored. As I prepared for this talk, I was left reflecting on how often I am tempted as a parent or teacher to skip round those conversations. Time, stress, worry about dealing with upset young people, busyness, my phone and more all tempt me away from those vital conversations.
To quietly mention food in teeth or someones trouser fly just takes a bit of experience and realisation others will be much more grateful than further embarrassed. It is much easier to forget in the moment that to fail to gently and quietly mention a bigger issue deprives others of the opportunity to change and the opportunity to grow.
As we as a community strive to get better at this - we give our boys the best opportunity to grow and leave school self-aware and ready to contribute positively to the wider world. It is my prayer this week that as a community we value this and strive together to get better at it.