Growing up, I believed that kindness would be reciprocated. I smiled at strangers, helped others when I could, and tried to make people feel seen and appreciated. I assumed that if I treated others well, they would treat me the same. But life doesn't always play by those rules. One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned is that people can exclude you—not because of something you did, but simply because you don’t fit a particular mold. Throughout my life, I’ve wrestled with social exclusion—from classmates who overlooked … [Read more...] about When You’re Not Welcome: A Christian Reflection on Social Exclusion