How can it be February already?! Where did January go? And should I admit that our Christmas tree is still up? (eek!) It’s coming down today – or not.
February is such a great month.
Unique to February, it is the only month with less than thirty days. And, interestingly enough, smack dab in the center of it (literally) is a holiday celebrating love. Which is especially nice after January with its well-intentioned resolutions likely long gone by now.
Resets and resolutions are good. But maybe February comes just in time to remind us that the greater story, woven through and within it all, is love. In its deepest sense, love reaches far beyond a Valentine. Eternal love touches us at our core. It fills soul-tanks not only of the people who receive it, but also – in the most counter intuitive way – the one who gives it. Love is funny that way. Actually, love is amazing that way.
What does it look like in action. For my friend Sarah, it looks like a meal. Please be encouraged, possibly inspired, by the way she uses her giftedness to love others in our carpool chat below.
Giftedness is the unique way in which you function. It’s the inborn core strengths and natural motivation you instinctively and consistently use to do things that you find satisfying and productive. Your giftedness is not just what you can do, but what you were born to do, enjoy doing, and do well.
– Bill Hendricks, President of the Giftedness Center
When Real Simple connected with Sarah last summer, they shared that “(i)n graduate school for education in Arkansas, Harmeyer operated a restaurant out of her home; she left a menu on the answering machine and took reservations, seating 16 people an hour in a converted TV room.” Clearly gathering people is a part of who she is, what she’s created to do. But truth be told – we are all created to love others. And a meal, from paper plates to fine china, is a fun way to do it.
Gathering people around a meal energizes Sarah. What form of loving-others energizes you? It certainly doesn’t have to be a formal exercise, although it might be. Every day offers an opportunity to see someone walking alongside, to encourage them, to speak their name out loud, to care, to notice, to let them know that they are known and belong. We can always help someone feeling left out to be loved-in.
And as we do, we get to hear those kind words and just for a second give ourselves a break.
Thanks for walking the road with me,
Kay
