I'm Baaack

Jo has been counting down sleeps until Valentine's Day for over a week.  Last night after supper the Sprouts and I sat around the table and made Valentine's for their classes. 

Jo had requested store-bought and they had to be Mighty Machines or Transformers.  So his were easy to label.  We had to go by his memory for his classmates' names as teachers at our school don't send class lists home to help students label their Valentine's.  We did pretty well, and I was impressed with how many students in his class he remembers.

Fi's were a little trickier.  She had insisted that she was going to make her own homemade ones.  But she didn't start until six o'clock last night.  So, there were a few tears as she worked through the challenges.  However, she ended up with a bag ready to go before she went to bed.

As a teacher I have always encouraged my students to give valentines to either everyone in the class or all the boys/girls.  That way no one feels like Charlie Brown and ends up with no cards.  For many years it worked well.

This year I saw the other side of the coin as Fi was struggling with giving a valentine to someone who is often unkind to her.  How do I insist that my child extend that kindness to someone who repeatedly shows a lack of respect to her?  I need to teach her that loving others means even when they are mean, annoying, or just plain miserable.  But it isn't easy watching her take the risk of having it smushed in her face (metaphorically).

As I write this I am humbled by how hard this walk is.  I am not even close to capable of the love and compassion needed to meet the needs of the people around me.  Only when I count on the love poured out by Christ can my love overflow out to others.  And lately I have been pretty stingy with that love.