Do Not Worry

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

The events of my life yesterday are such that I could not write them as fiction if I tried. Here’s how my Wednesday unfolded:

I had a 10:15 AM appointment with a cardiologist. The back story: I finally heard back from my doctor on Monday evening about the heart palpitations I’ve been having; she was unsure what was going on with my heart and referred me to a cardiologist. Also Monday, my Wednesday morning staff meeting was cancelled. On Tuesday morning I called the cardiologist to make an appointment. While checking for openings, the receptionist said, “Wow, this never happens. Is there any chance you can come in tomorrow (Wednesday) morning? Our next available appointment is in about a month.” Why, yes…yes I can!

So yesterday morning I got ready for the day and left the house with enough time to stop for gas on the way to my appointment. As I was driving out of my neighborhood I realized I’d accidentally left about 15 minutes before I intended. (Who does that?) I felt a little annoyed with myself, knowing I’d just be waiting an extra long time in the waiting room. I stopped at the gas station, filled up the tank, sat back in the car, turned the key in the ignition, and… nothing. Well, nothing except a gritty clicking noise. Dang it.

The gas station attendant did not have jumper cables or a car (he’d walked from home) but was so kind and started walking around asking other customers if they could help. One woman had the cables and was willing to help start my car. Over the course of the next few minutes, I discovered that the gas station attendant was the father-in-law of a friend from church, and the woman with the jumper cables sends her kids to the camp where I worked in college, and we have mutual friends here in town. My car started, I thanked the folks who were willing to help me on a rainy morning, and I was headed toward the cardiologist with the exact amount of time I’d intended to give myself.

I started laughing and thanked God as I drove–there’s no way that series of events was anything short of divine intervention. My schedule that morning had cleared, there was a random, rare opening with the cardiologist, I accidentally gave myself extra time, and when my car broke down, there were kind folks to whom I was already connected willing to help. I was meant to be at that appointment.

When I pulled up at the doctor’s office, I turned off my car, then attempted to start it again–just to see what I was going to be dealing with post-appointment. Nothing but that lovely dead-battery noise. Excellent. I texted my friend and coworker Evan, who lives around the corner (and was home because our staff meeting had been cancelled), and he said he could jump my car after the appointment.

When I was finally in the examination room, the nurse took my blood pressure.

“114/55… looks good.”

“I’m surprised it isn’t higher; my car died on the way here this morning, and I’m a little worked up!”

“Oh no! Then you’re doing REALLY good!”

😀

I spent the most time with the nurse practitioner, who was great and explained everything so well to me–basically I’m having a few extra heartbeats throughout the day, but because my heart rhythm looks normal, I’m at a healthy weight, active, and have no risk factors, I have nothing to worry about. Stress, rather than a problem with my heart, is causing the palpitations. Bottom line: I just need to learn to relax.

No problem. Now let me go jump start my car for the second time today. 😉 Evan graciously drove over to help (thanks, Evan!), and I headed for my regular car shop.

I left the car running and walked inside.

“Hey, as soon as I turn off my car, it’s going to die. You guys do battery stuff, right?”

“We do. You can pull it into the garage!”

I pulled it in and walked back inside the office to give the man my car key.

“What’s your plan–are you going to wait or is someone picking you up?”

“Umm… I didn’t really have a plan. My plan was to jump start the car and immediately take it somewhere it could be fixed. This is as far as the plan went. How long do you think it will take?”

“Well, we are all about to go to lunch, so we can’t look at it right now. I can call you when it’s ready though.”

Learn to relax. Learn to relax. Learn to relax.

I thanked him, then walked out the door and down the street to Barnes & Noble, where I bought a magazine and a sandwich and settled in for an indefinite amount of time. Within an hour they called to tell me I needed a new battery, and they could have it done in twenty minutes.

The hilarious irony of the situation is not lost on me–that my car breaks down on both ends of an appointment where I’m told that I am so stressed that I’m giving myself heart palpitations. And yet, in what is a notoriously stressful situation, God provided richly before I even knew to ask. Everything worked out, no thanks to me worrying about how it might be resolved.

It brings to mind a passage from the book of Matthew (chapter 6), which I’ll share for anyone who’s interested or needs the same reminder today:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?…So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or “What shall we wear?’…your heavenly Father knows that you need these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

I will be meditating on this passage daily for a while (until my heart chills outs, and then probably a bit longer :)) as part of my plan to de-stress, which I’ll outline tomorrow.

In the meantime, do not worry, my friends!

A 5K, a Wedding, and Two Picnics

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Friday afternoon as I returned to work after my lunch break, I passed a friend in the parking lot who said, “I’m so glad it’s finally Friday!” Automatically I replied, “Oh yeah, me too!” Then I thought, Well, when you work at a church, Friday is often like Sunday: it’s the day before everything gets crazy! Now that it’s Monday morning, I can breathe and relax. 🙂

This weekend we kicked off the new school year in the life of the church with a bunch of awesome events that definitely kept me busy! Saturday morning our church, in partnership with another church down the road, hosted a 5K. We encouraged the youth group folks not only to run, but to dress up in costumes. I couldn’t find a great costume, but I did find these fantastic purple “skapris” (oh yes, “skapris” are a skirt/capri combo) plus a purple sequin headband in the kids section at Target. All I’m saying is that I looked pretty good. 😉

I ran with my sweet high school friend Gena, and we rocked it! I won my age group, and Gena placed second in hers (with a lot more competition.) We had over 200 participants and raised a lot of money that is being donated to a couple local charities!!

Saturday afternoon, on our way to a wedding in Virginia Beach, we made a stop to visit our good friend Allison. We ate lunch, watched the Virginia Tech football game, and so enjoyed catching up and laughing!

On Saturday evening we attended the wedding of my good friend and coworker Evan and his beautiful bride Kristina. The day was perfect, the decorations and details were adorable, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people so excited to get married! It was a sweet, joyful celebration.

Just bein’ us

It was close to 1 AM when we arrived home from the wedding, and I had to be up pretty early for church, er, later that morning. Rather than our usual three services (two traditional and one contemporary), we had one huge, blended service to bring everyone together as we kicked off the school year. Even though I was operating on insufficient sleep, the morning was awesome! I don’t know how many people were there, but the sanctuary was PACKED, and we had overflow in our Welcome Center. Some chose to sit on the floor with their kids. The atmosphere was just relaxed and genuine as everyone came together as one community to worship God!

After the service we had a picnic lunch, and people spread out all over the church grounds–inside and out–to share a meal with friends!

And because one picnic on a Sunday is never enough, that evening we had a youth ministry picnic at a local park to kick off the school year and welcome our new families. I was unable to do a headcount, but I estimate we had 150-175 people (youth, parents, and siblings). I felt a little bit overwhelmed…in a good way. 🙂

I am most definitely an introvert, so being in a crowd like this drains my energy. As soon as everyone had eaten, I’d finished speaking, and we started to clean up, I was ready to lie down on a picnic table and sleep. Hah! It was awesome, though, and I am so excited to see what’s in store this year!

As great as the weekend was, I’m so glad it’s finally Monday!! (…aren’t you? ;-))

What was the highlight of your weekend?

NC Mission Trip Recap- Part 1

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

I am home from North Carolina and excited to give a full account of the week, but first, I must acknowledge what happened yesterday: Andrew hijacked the blog. It was a legitimate hijacking. Not only did he not tell me he was writing a post, but he didn’t tell me he’d done it afterwards either! I happened to glance at the stats page on my phone, saw a few notifications, and thought, two people commented on…what post? Oh… What a funny guy. 😀 Because the stolen post seemed to be well-received, Andrew has landed himself a contract job as a monthly guest blogger (he’s not getting paid for it.) I hope those of you that we don’t know in real life enjoyed “meeting” Andrew!

Now the mission trip summary…I’ll do my best to keep in concise without leaving out any juicy details 🙂

The team:
Our team consisted of twelve middle school youth and four adults. I’ve probably mentioned this on the blog before, but I love middle schoolers. I think they are absolutely hilarious in that you never know what they will say or do. In that regard, they did not disappoint this week. Actually, they did not disappoint in any way this week; I was impressed by how hard they all worked and the great attitudes they had despite the heat and persistent mosquitoes.

The people we served:
As I mentioned in my midweek report, we worked with a man named Chuck and his two teenage daughters, Ashley and Haley, who are in a very tough spot in life at the moment. Chuck is sharp, witty, knowledgeable about many, many subjects, and full of hilarious one-liners. “She’s as tough as woodpecker lips.” “At least my report card didn’t stutter; yours kept saying, “D-D-D-D-D…” More importantly, he has a deep love for his daughters and a rock-solid faith that was evident to all of us. Despite losing his wife, job, and being left to raise teenage girls, his devotion to God has not been shaken.

In addition to teaching us some legitimately useful life skills, Chuck showed us how “we rednecks” get strong out of in the country: using heavy metal bars and sledgehammers:

And that block of wood they are pounding with the sledgehammer? After we took turns hitting it all day, Chuck stood it up and split it in two with the sledgehammer, prompting this response from one of our boys:

“If I took a girl out on a date, and you were her dad, I would treat her so well…” 😀

The work:
Half of our team painted the outside of Chuck’s trailer, and half the team replaced the floor in a few rooms inside. As I mentioned above, everyone worked incredibly hard and finished the tasks we set out to do.

The funny (part 1):
The man living next door to Chuck owns a bunch of goats and keeps them in a barely charged electric fence. Think static electricity. Or a first grade science experiment using a battery and a light bulb (I know this to be true thanks to one of our awesome adults, Robin, who teaches science to elementary school students. :)) One afternoon Chuck showed a few of our youth what that fence feels like, and, because they are twelve years old, that entertained many of them for longer than you might think. Weird, but harmless. Well, the phone calls home that night sounded like this:

“Catherine let us electrocute ourselves on an electric fence today! We kept shocking ourselves over and over! What? Why not? Yeah, I’m okay… No, it didn’t hurt… No, we didn’t do it for very long…”

Oh boy. Parents, I did not let your kids electrocute themselves. Again, think static electricity, and please consider that your twelve-year-old may have exaggerated. I do think, however, that a few of them seemed slightly more balanced afterwards… 😉

I will leave it here for now, but I have plenty more to report tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

NC Mission Trip- Midweek Report

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

The week so far…

This week we have been working with a man named Chuck and his two teenage daughters, Ashley and Haley. Chuck’s wife passed away in April, and around the same time he lost his job. Due to the tough financial situation, the three were forced to move into a broken down trailer. One of the girls told us that life has been so crazy that they haven’t even had time to mourn the loss of their mother. Our crew has been replacing an old, rotted floor this week, as well as putting a fresh coat of paint on the outside of the house. It’s been a joy for us to spend time with Chuck and the girls too!

In addition to sweating like crazy from 8:30-3, here are some other notables of the last few days:

Highs:

-beach time

-awesome food

-a surprise ice cream delivery by Mr. Oguich

-goats at the worksite (yes, everyone else is just as excited as I am about this ;-))

-worship on beach blankets in the sand

Lows:

-broken AC in the girls’ room the first night (which has been fixed! We are nice and cool :))

-Mosquitos that laugh at our Off! Deep Woods bug spray…

-noisy neighbors (I laid the smack down last night 😀

All around, it has been an awesome week… And we have over 3 days left! I will give a full report when I return… Blogging via smart phone is a painful task.

Have a great week!

Gone to Carolina [in the Church Van]

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

In a few hours I will be on my way to North Carolina with a group of our middle school youth for a mission trip. We are spending the week repairing homes near the coast (low-income areas… not people’s beach houses, as my mom suspected :)), and I am so looking forward to it. Missions and local service projects are a key piece of our youth ministry, and here’s why:

In the book of James, chapter 2, James poses the question, “What good is it, brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead.”

In other words, if all we ever do is sit around reading the Bible, then go about our lives and ignore those who are hurting in the world, what’s the point? That type of faith is not sincere. In light of that, I am humbled and thrilled to have opportunities like this trip as part of my job. Plus, I get to hang out with all our crazy middle schoolers, whom I love dearly. 😀

I am not sure how much I will be able to blog while I’m there–maybe a few brief posts–but I plan to give it a try. If not, I’ll be back next weekend! In the meantime, please pray for our team, those we are helping, and Andrew, who has to hold down the fort by himself this week.

As the very talented James Taylor put it: “Yes, I’m gone to Carolina in [the church van.]” (Or something like that. ;-))

Youth Stuff and Yard Work: A Full, Fabulous Weekend

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Well, I survived the crazy weekend! Despite the stress I experienced leading up to this weekend, everything went incredibly well. Here’s what the last two days held:

Saturday morning I went with a group of our youth to volunteer with the Miracle League of Richmond–a baseball league for kids with disabilities. We “buddy-up” with the players each week during the league’s spring and fall seasons to help them enjoy the great American pastime. It is an absolute joy to know and be able to spend time with these guys and girls. Plus, it’s my kind of baseball: everyone gets up to bat, everyone swings until they hit the ball, and everyone makes it home. 😀

One of our youth, Eliza, and Carrie Rose have been buddies almost every game for about four years!

If you live in the Richmond area and are looking for awesome volunteer opportunities, check out the Miracle League!

When I returned home Saturday afternoon, it was time for yard work. Andrew was working on the roof installing… something related to ventilation along the very top (not my area of expertise. ;-))

After thanking Andrew for having such useful life skills, and also having a serious chat about not climbing on the roof when a. no one else is home and b. no one is holding the ladder (seriously, Andrew, what were you thinking?), I offered to mow the lawn. Now, I mowed the lawn frequently when I was in high school, but the lawn mower we have now stinks. It just stinks. The previous owners of the house left it behind, and it works, so we figured, why buy a new one? It is a full-body exercise to push it across the yard, and only once have I successfully started it by myself. (Andrew started it for me initially, and then when I took a break after, oh, four rows, Andrew was back on the roof, and our neighbor Gary took pity and started it again for me :-D)

In the garden we thinned the broccoli, Swiss chard, and beets. I know it has to be done–if two or three plants are too close together, none of them will thrive–but I have such a hard time pulling up little plants that are doing well!

Saturday night, this happened. I am scarred. Absolutely scarred.

Sunday morning was Youth Sunday at church, which meant the youth were responsible for most every aspect of all three worship services. This was a large part of my crazy-stressful week last week. Everything came together beautifully, and all our youth did a wonderful job! I am one proud youth director. 🙂

Meg was one of two high school girls to offer the sermon…Go, girl 🙂

After following the bulletin closely and nervously for three services thinking, “What did I forget? Where is there a hole in the service?” I headed home to rest for a few hours before our youth year-end banquet. I was nervous about the banquet, but all went well! Okay, I forgot to recognize and include one of our mission teams from last summer in the slide show…Sorry, LA Team! (Or as Forrest renamed it, the “Lost Angeles Team.” ;-)) Oops. Aside from that, all went well. 🙂

We ate, watched the slide show, thanked our parent volunteers, and honored our seniors and some other youth, including our awesome Servant of the Year, Lauren!

…and the public speaking wasn’t as horrible as I’d imagined 😉

When I returned home at the end of the night, I enjoyed reading through notes from youth and parents. Thanks to everyone for your kind words…they brought me a lot of joy! Perhaps the greatest…item…I received last night was this collage from hilarious 9th grader, Courtney:

Why, yes, she photo-shopped herself into a bunch of pictures and added captions like, “Our engagement photos turned out GREAT” and “I’m so glad we’re married now!” 😀 Andrew and I laughed SO hard. What a funny kid. We’ve considered adopting Courtney, but because she comes from such a loving, outstanding family, we don’t think the courts would approve the request. 😉

While I feel like I say this every Monday, this was a full, but great weekend! Thanks to everyone–youth, parents, Andrew–who stepped up to make everything run smoothly!

Today, I enjoy my first day off in three weeks. 😀

Climbing Walls, Canoes, and Capture the Flag (Retreat Recap)

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

It’s Monday morning, and I feel like I must have been hit by a train this weekend. Soreness everywhere. Our youth group retreat was a huge success. Here’s the play-by-play:

We arrived at Camp Willow Run Friday night just in time to catch the end of the sunset, settled in to our boxcars (the cabins are renovated boxcars… I realize that might sound weird, but it’s actually very cool, :)) and had our first session in our meeting room. We played a few icebreaker games, including Extreme Elves, Wizards, and Giants (it’s like Rock, Paper, Scissors, with different/bigger motions, teams, and chasing.)

(Sorry for the blurry iphone photo…)

We ate some snacks, introduced our lesson theme for the weekend–What You’re Worth–and talked about how we are often our own biggest critic.

Saturday morning we made our way to the dining hall at 8:00 for breakfast–biscuits, sausage, gravy, grits, eggs, cereal, fruit… Mmm. This was the first time I’ve been dairy-free at camp, and it was so tough to turn down those biscuits! After breakfast we met for our second group session. We played telephone charades, which is a hilarious game for those of you who haven’t played it! The clue is given to the first person in line, then acted out person-to-person (getting skewed a bit along the way.) The last person in line guesses.

At one point the boys acted out “going on a first date,” which the last person guessed was, “kissing.” (Parents, you should probably have a chat with your boys ;-)) The girls acted out “whitewater rafting,” which the last person guessed was, “dying on a boat.” Lots of laughs all around! In our lesson that morning we discussed the impact other people have on our sense of self-worth and how we can tune out those negative messages we receive.

Before lunch we played capture the flag–always a favorite with this group.

Headbands, eye black, game faces–we are serious about Capture the Flag.

We ran around in the woods for over an hour, sprinting after opponents, sprinting back to safety after jailbreaks. Only a few band-aids were needed at the end of the game, so I consider it a success 😉 I did manage to sustain a 4-inch cut on the back of my thigh when I was forcefully tagged just before crossing back to my side. Ahem. Battle scars.

For lunch we ate burgers, fries, and fruit cocktail. Power lunch for a busy afternoon! After lunch we went canoeing…

…played nine-square (like four-square, but bigger, and 3-D)…

Nine-square was a huge hit; we may need to invest in some PVC pipes!

…and climbed the wall and braved the Giant Swing…

Whew, it was a full afternoon! For dinner we had spaghetti and salads, then headed back outside to play some more nine-square (yes, every free moment we had was filled with nine-square. To quote one of the boys, “Nine-square is life.” 😉 )

Later that evening we met inside for our third group session. In my last post I mentioned that sometimes we play games whose sole purpose is to make me laugh. Saturday night we played, “Sock Wars.” It was one of those games that could either really be a hit or really flop…and turned out to be hilarious. The object of the game is simple: be the last person with a sock on your foot.

The result was total chaos. It was like the Hunger Games, with socks instead of murder. Some people hid. Some people attacked. Alliances were formed. They were ruthless. Unfortunately I was unable to upload the video, and the photos don’t quite capture the madness, but you get an idea. 🙂

For the sake of not making this post too much longer than it already is (thanks to anyone who is still reading!,) I’ll finish with a Cliff Notes version of the rest of the weekend:

Campfire. S’mores. Third lesson: God is our biggest fan, and we are worth more to Him than we can comprehend. Grog (outside, nighttime game in which one person is the “Grog” and tags people, and everyone else must find hidden pieces of a flashlight, assemble, and defeat the Grog by shining the light on them. In other words, more running around :)) Sleeping hard. Breakfast. Games. Fourth lesson: building up others so they know how much they are worth to God. Nine-square. Home.

It was a full weekend, to say the least. I loved being able to spend quality time with this group–laughing, playing, encouraging. Retreats always remind me what a cool job I have, and what an awesome opportunity I have to be part of the lives of these youth.

They also remind me that I am getting older, and my body can’t endure as much as it once could. Here’s to hobbling around like an old woman for a few days. 😉

Youth Retreat Weekend + Yet Another Easy Dinner

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

In just a few short hours, Andrew and I will be on our way to North Carolina with a few van-fulls of teenagers. It’s spring retreat weekend for the youth group, and I am SO excited! We are going to the beautiful Camp Willow Run on Lake Gaston, where I was a camp counselor during my summers in college. CWR has a special place in my heart, and I am thankful for a job that takes me back there every year.

This morning I slept in as long as I could (7:15, then tossed and turned until 8… oh the joys of getting old 😉 ) in anticipation of the craziness that will be the next 48 hours. In previous years, I’ve arrived home Sunday feeling like I was hit by a bus due to all the running around we’d done. Here’s a quick flashback to last year:

Capture the flag in an excellent wooded arena (this photo doesn’t quite capture the intensity of the game, but it is always hardcore!)

Games I created ~~for the sole purpose of making myself laugh~~ 😉

High ropes course

Silly team-building activities

Throw in some good food, canoeing, a sunset over the lake, and great Bible studies, and it makes for a pretty epic weekend! This year we are doing the climbing wall and giant swing rather than the high ropes course; I can’t wait!

This week has been super busy in preparing for the weekend, so our dinners have been simple and easy, and workouts have been a bit shorter and lower-intensity as well: Short weight-lifting session Monday (like, 20 minutes in the living room with the TV on,) walk on Tuesday, yoga Wednesday, 30-minute easy run Thursday. I wrote about our easy Monday/Tuesday dinner here, and our Wednesday/Thursday dinner was this:

Baked chicken breasts (cut into smaller pieces to cook faster) marinated in Balsamic vinaigrette, leftover quinoa, roasted beets, and beet greens. I started to make a marinade for the chicken and then thought, “Nope. Not happening. Balsamic vinaigrette will taste great.” I told Andrew it was a secret family recipe. 😉

I’ve said this before, but when in doubt about cooking a vegetable, slice it, toss it with olive oil, add salt and pepper, and throw it in the oven at 400 degrees. Roasted beets? Two thumbs up from this girl. Andrew handled the greens, and they were pretty tasty too. Both the chicken and the beets were done in about 20 minutes. Can’t beet that (pun-intended…bahaha :-D)

Now I’m off to finish a few last-minute details for the retreat. I hope to give a quick post at some point during the weekend, but if not, I will be back Monday. Please pray with us for safe travel and no injuries, big or small!

What are your plans for the weekend? Any quick and easy dinner ideas for busy weeks?

Today

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

April 16, 2013.

The day after the horrific explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

The 6th anniversary of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech.

What can be said on a day like today? I feel tremendously saddened by each of these events, and equally inadequate to write about them.

Here’s what I know for sure:

In the Gospel of John, chapter 16 verse 33, Jesus tells us, “…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

I don’t know why these tragedies happened. I can’t say what good will come from them. I don’t know that I’d be able to restrain myself from punching those responsible in the face, if given the opportunity.

What I do know is that we have a God who loves us more than we can fathom, and that He has already overcome every ounce of evil in this world. In Him alone we can take comfort.

Please join me in praying for those who are grieving today, those who are remembering in sadness, and those who are on the road to recovery. Kristin Armstrong said it well: “The road ahead is long. But little do they know, [runners are] good with that.”

Love is a Big Bucket of Fried Chicken

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

“What comes to mind when you think of Valentine’s Day?”

This is the question I asked the middle school youth group on Sunday as a lead-in to a lesson about love–specifically love as an action word. I received many of the answers I’d anticipated: chocolate, flowers, hearts, etc.

One girl raised her hand and said, “A big bucket of fried chicken!” I laughed (who thinks of fried chicken when they think of Valentine’s Day?) and asked if that was a family tradition. She shook her head, no. Then I asked, “…or would that just be a good way for someone to show you they cared about you?” She nodded her head with a big grin and wide “I love fried chicken” eyes.

As a side note, this is a prime example of why I love middle school youth. You never know what they are going to say. You think you know, but you don’t.

I laughed to myself and mentally filed that gem away as Reason # 5723 why I love middle schoolers, but as I reflected on it later it occurred to me that what this girl said went deeper than the bottom of the bucket. In fact, she pointed to the very core of our lesson on love.

Dr. Gary Chapman is a world renowned expert on love and marriage. In his book The Five Love Languages he describes five general categories, or “languages,” in which we communicate love: words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, acts of service, and receiving gifts. The idea is that every person speaks one or two of these languages stronger than any of the others, and when that person is loved in that particular language, they feel especially loved.

For example, a person whose primary love language is words of affirmation might melt upon receiving a sappy love note for Valentine’s Day, whereas a person whose primary love language is receiving gifts might think, “Are you kidding me? Where are the roses? Where are the chocolates?” Someone whose love language is quality time might feel most loved by taking a walk together; a physical touch person would need to hold hands on that walk to feel really loved. Someone whose love language is acts of service might feel most loved if their spouse watches the kids so they can take a walk by themselves.

I have found this concept to be true, not only in marriage, but in non-romantic relationships as well. Regardless of a person’s love language, however, I think the underlying truth is this:

Love is a choice.

Love is an action word. In John 15:13 Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” You see, Christ demonstrated the greatest love by dying on the cross for us. Love doesn’t get any more true than that.

There’s no question that when God commands us to love our neighbor and love our enemy, He is not suggesting we attempt to conjure up a warm fuzzy feeling toward them, but rather that we choose to love them in an active way. In the same way that Christ loved us by laying down His life for us, we must love others by choosing to lay down our lives and put them first.

I don’t scrub the toilets because I enjoy doing so; I do it because… oh, who am I kidding? I don’t scrub the toilets. Better example: Andrew doesn’t scrub the toilets because he enjoys doing so; he does it as an act of love, because doing so means that I don’t have to. And I hate scrubbing the toilets.

Loving someone could mean taking them on a picnic. It could mean giving them flowers. It could mean doing the dishes. Giving them a foot massage. Cooking dinner. Writing them a heartfelt note. Sitting on the couch and talking. Holding hands. Telling them you are proud of them. Buying them an unexpected gift. Taking out the trash. Answering the phone when they need to talk. Giving them a ride when their car is in the shop (even if it requires you to wake up 30 minutes early.)

Loving someone could simply mean putting a big bucket of fried chicken on the table for dinner because you know they’ll love it.

DSCN7414

Today–and tomorrow, the next day, and so on–I challenge you to love the people around you. To lay down your life for theirs.

It’s easier said than done, I know, but what a beautiful example we have in the One who laid down His life for us.

A Two Storey Home

Where Marriage and Healthy Living Meet

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