Friday, April 22, 2011

Five Minute Friday: The Hard Love



Today, I'm linking up to The Gypsy Mama's Five Minute Friday for the very first time. Lisa-Jo assigns a prompt and asks you to write for five minutes without planning, overthinking, editing, or worrying about how it sounds. So I'm checking my clock, and starting now.

Go:

Love is hard sometimes.

It's hard when I'm exhausted and Janie is crying and I want to go to bed but she's still awake.

It's hard when I'm in a bad mood and I have a husband to love and respect but I keep forgetting how.

It's hard when my students are demanding this and that and more of this from me, and I don't think I can keep up with their needs, let alone find time to teach them.

It's hard when I hear something that I don't like, that hurts my feelings, that makes me feel unwanted, unloved, or unappreciated. My pride is hurt, I feel embarrassed, and I put up walls that don't allow me to love the way that I should.

Now, I'm realizing as I write that all of my words have been about me and that's exactly the point. Love will always be hard if I'm being selfish.

Love is about sacrifice and putting others first. And how appropriate that today is Good Friday, the very day that Jesus showed up the ultimate example of how to be selfless and LOVE the way we all should be doing.

So I have to say to myself - God comes first, Janie comes first, Jason comes first, my family and friends come first, my students and coworkers come first.

Put them before me. Choose to love no matter how I'm feeling, how my day is going, how I want to act at that moment.

Because it's not about me.

Stop.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing this, Kelli! What a great reminder that when we put ourselves first it is hard to love anyone else.

    p.s. I used to be a middle school English teacher, and I have 2 little ones at home, so this is very appropriate for me, too!!

    Happy Easter

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  2. You summed up for me today the source of my angst. And teeth grinding. Funny to notice that I'm not ready to let go of it - just yet. Thank you.

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  3. Have you been following me? I think you pretty much summed up my current angst. Thank you so much for these words! So needed today.

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