Love

For a few days I have been struggling… just a little blue. Why? Maybe it is a steady dose of cable news, talk radio, referrals, traffic, and the heartaches of friends and family. Or is it work, volunteering, classes, and a calendar that is too full? Maybe it is deadlines, missed opportunities, unfinished projects, and tangled thoughts. Could it be balancing life, juggling and praying to discern the center of God’s will? Or is it, coming to terms with daily sacrifices, and learning to live differently? What is my focus? Something I have failed to do? Or maybe something I did? Is all this activity simply pride?

As I was struggling to sort through my “stuff” … I read an article from Rick Warren, titled “Persistent Love”.

To me, he said it perfectly, “Love can be absolutely exhausting. Don’t let anyone fool you. …Sometimes you just don’t feel like you have any more love to give. Maybe you’re in a position such as teacher, salesman, or waitress – and you come home and think, “I just can’t face another problem or heartache” Or you need to show love to a particular person who is demanding, selfish …so you just shut down.”

He continues, “While that’s perfectly natural and perfectly human, it’s not the high standard of love that is in the Bible.

The Bible says in, I Corinthians 13:7, “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures in every circumstance. “NLT

These words spoke directly to my heart, “How do you refuel your love tank? You start by letting God love you. “We love because he first loved us”. I John 4:19 When your worn out, tired and can’t imagine showing love to anyone. Remember God loved you so much he sent his Son to die for you.”

Now that is real fuel. That is what keeps you going when you want to quit.

All I can say is , AMEN!

Jackson

After a weekend at the kennel, Jackson is quietly resting on the landing on the stairs.

Scholarship Dinner at Trine University

Scholarship Dinner

Dessert

Gala Program

Memories from Eden Elementary

My classmates from first grade.

Testing my reality

A message from the Aspiring Leadership Class is still simmering in my thoughts. I had to go back and check if my memories matched the facts.

What got me started? An exercise titled: Perspectives on Your Past. This is the description of our assignment. Think back on your childhood, through your high school, when you were forming your ideas and values and remember the messages you received about people who were over and /under weight. Under this section, there were four bullet points; we focused on two; media and the statements from peers and other kids in the neighborhood or school. Our group had very differing viewpoints. I don’t remember any negative messages about overweight people. I actually don’t remember classmates who were overweight. Fat jokes were not a part of my memory. I simply could not retrieve any of those memories. Am I blocking those memories? Were there overweight people in my elementary and high school? Overweight classmates were not a part of my memories. While I don’t remember those differences, did they exist? Was I absorbed regarding other differences? Other groups in our class discussed ethnicity, socio – economic differences, and people who follow the rules and people who break the rules. We focus on “Weight Disparities (Over and Under Weight)
I went to look at my yearbooks…testing my reality. As I glance through the yearbooks, I don’t see fat faces. I see my friends. Pages from my yearbooks…. see for yourself. What do you think?

A taste of the real world....

Job shadowing.... seniors... all over this city... visiting...hospitals, newspapers, restaurants, law offices, day care centers, waffle house, UK, visiting colleges .... Today, seniors were job shadowing all across the city today.