Love and Be Loved.

    When I was teaching in Atlanta, I went to a second grade teachers' conference. After several years, there are few things that I remember from that weekend, but there is something that one of the speakers said that has stuck in my heart. It was in a session about classroom management and she said, "Every child needs someone whose face lights up every time they enter the room. You may be the only person who does that for them." I thought about that each day as my kids walked in to the classroom. I made sure my face lit up as each one of my little loves crossed the threshold of my class because it's true. Everyone needs to know they are loved. Everyone needs to feel like someone's day got better just because of their presence.

    I know it's true that my sweet little kiddos need that from me and I try my best to show them how excited I am to see them every day and how much I just adore who they are. And it's also true that my heart desires that for myself. It might be why the Lord placed sweet little Julissa in my life (pictured front right). This little girl is a bubble of life. She is sassy and full of joy. And she LOVES me. It doesn't matter what is going on, where she is, or what she is doing… the moment that Julissa sees me she just starts yelling, "Lisa!" as she comes running up to hug me. It literally happens every time she sees me even if it's the fifth or sixth time that day. I think my favorite was the day that we were doing the agricultural graduation for our garden workers. All of our garden workers and their families were there. The church was silent except for the agricultural engineer who was giving a speech honoring all of the workers. I snuck in the back to take a few pictures for Linda. Julissa was sitting in the middle of the church in her fancy red dress. As soon as she sees me her face lights up and she shouts "Lisa! Lisa." at the top of her lungs. Everyone stops what they are doing and turns around. Slightly embarrassing, but I surely felt loved. Julissa may only be five years old, but she has a lot of wisdom in what it means to love well.

    Everyone needs to feel loved in that way. They need to feel like their presence made a difference in someone's life. So today love and be loved.