I have felt so "blah" since yesterday afternoon. I went to work, fooling myself into thinking that I would be able to study in the presence of 20ish elementary and middle school kids. Yea, didn't happen. But I was such a jerk to them. I tried to force it. I literally said "Please, go away" before they even did anything to bother me. I know that they are most likely going to ask something like "If you could have three super powers, what would they be?" or "Did you know that Billy stuck the straw from his juice box up Sally's nose?" I wanted them to be mature yesterday so that I could study. That was wrong on so many levels...

When I got home I checked my email and had one from the coach of this U-12 team that I volunteer with occasionally. I have coached a few of their practices and they absolutely love it. The email was an invitation to their end-of-the-year party at Gattitown. It's next week. I don't even have school that week but I told myself that I was too busy. I just didn't want to go and didn't care that it would mean the world to these girls. I hit "reply" knowing that denying the invitation was a selfish decision. That conviction started to build and I stopped writing and said wait until tomorrow, maybe you will have a change of heart....

Then I forced myself to read the next day Purpose Driven Life, Day 16: What Matters Most. The two opening verses were such a kick in the stomach...

"No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love." 1 Corinthians 13:3b

"Love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love." 2 John 1:6

....oops

Some points that stood out in this chapter:

-Relationships are what life is all about
-We will be evaluated on our love
-The best expression of love is TIME\ the greatest gift you can give someone is your TIME
-The essence of love is not what we think or do or provide for others, but how much we give of OURSELVES
-You should kneel by your bedside every morning and say "God, whether I get anything else done today, I want to make sure that I spend time loving You and loving others---because that's what life is all about. I don't want to waste this day."

...OOPS

So, yea, I'm going to be chillin' at Gattitown next Monday night. Free pizza, cake, and game tokens...can't be that bad! Just kidding, no but seriously, I can't wait to love on these kids while destroying them in air hockey :)