In lieu of flowers...

💖

Valentine's Day has a certain stigma when you are single. It's dreaded because you become painfully aware of what the world declares is love...and the fact that you don't have it.
This year, Valentine's Day fell smack dab in the middle of one of the craziest weeks here at ICSB - tournament week. Each day is a different dress up day (so much fun, of course). It all culminates in Thursday's pep rally before school is over and then...let the games begin! But, not so conveniently placed in the middle of that is Valentine's Day AND the 100th day of school. Now, if you are an elementary teacher, the tension is probably already palpable for you just reading those words. Don't get me wrong, we had a BLAST!!! But it was definitely draining!

But that's not my point. My point was that it was gloriously freeing to have that "dreaded" point-out-all-your-friends-that-are-single day wedged in the middle of so many other things. It was like the smallest little blip on the radar compared to everything else we did during the week. We spent time doing fun, Valentine's related things; I wrote my kids cute little Valentine's notes; we had cake. It was a good day. But it wasn't all consuming and that was like a breath of fresh air. I didn't have time to focus on the fact that I didn't get what everyone (read "everyone") else was getting - dates, heart shaped chocolates, flowers, love notes, etc. But what I did get was my heart full to overflowing with love from my students and quality time with basically my whole ICSB family over the weekend as we tried to love like Jesus!

Our community rallied together to put on tournament week and basically everyone had a role (some small, some huge) that helped our school function this weekend. We were able to host schools from all over Eastern Europe and have a chance to show them God's love - even when it was tough (trust me...there's a long list of examples).
I watched as one Bulldog player united his team during an intense game where emotions were flying real high. He also encouraged peace on the sidelines and tried to offer an olive branch, so to speak, to the opposing team. That is an example of God's love in action.
I watched another Bulldog player rally her team after a brutal loss, encouraging them to press on, and lifting their spirits even in the strain of losing an injured player. Because of her perseverance and joyfulness in the moment, the girls team was united and played well together - even pulling out a win! That's God's love in action.
I watched staff members in the background, unseen, pulling off so many different jobs to make the many events run smoothly. Most of the time those things were unobserved and unrecognized. Most of the time they weren't even required to do it. That's God's love in action.
I saw parents, stressed, sacrificing, serving to make sure people were fed (and had candy). Many of them weren't able to watch their own children competing in the basketball games because they were working various shifts. Yes, they may have been required to help - way to go junior parents - but the fact that I saw many of them smiling and engaging with the people they were serving says a lot for their character. That's God's love in action.
I saw several families that speak Russian purposefully reaching out to the two Russian teams that were here. Most of the players didn't speak English (and, I'll be honest, they were intense and very good at basketball). But these families included them into their fold and made efforts to communicate with them and love on them. Many of us couldn't do that because of the language barrier. But watching those Russian-speaking families (parents and kids, and even a few Bulldog players) extend love and hospitality to those visitor teams was neat. One ICSB father sat beside a Russian player as he was with the nurse, helping translate as the nurse took his blood pressure. The Bulldogs had just lost to the Russians. That dad didn't have to be there, but he was willing. And as they talked, I saw the Russian player relaxing and smiling. That's God's love in action.

This whole line of thought came from one thing - reading back over 1 Corinthians 13 this morning.
I decided to read that chapter to my kids for morning devotions on Valentine's Day and I was reminded of what love really is. It's not about the flowers and chocolate (although I'm sure that's nice). Love should look more like what I saw being lived out through the ICSB community this weekend:

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

 We have a chance to be this kind of love to the world around us. What are you going to do about it? 

The balls in your court.