Today, I watched our varsity girls play golf for an hour or so. The wind from the north kept a crisp coolness on their heels as they walked the 18 holes in white golfing skorts ( a skirt with shorts underneath) and gray pullovers. The coach teaches at UHS and is ever ready with a smile and an invite to the golf course. She picked me up in the parking lot and we ducked our heads and she drove us into the wind back to her girls.
I fielded text messages and phone calls from the schools while I watched the girls play, but I was not too distracted to see how each girl would look over her shoulder to find Coach Jones. As foursomes waited on tee boxes, Coach would mosey up to the small crowd and fist bump different young ladies. She had relationships with girls from every team. Most remarkably, she knew exactly what each Lady Redskin needed - a pep talk, a laugh, a bottle of water, a break from the mental discipline of golf. Smiling, laughing, gently encouraging, Coach never left a girl without making that precious young lady smile.
This job isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination; however, being good to kids isn't difficult either. It requires consistency and grace and a degree of unconditional love that is not of this earth - but if we rely on those gifts, being good to kids IS easier.
As adults, we strive to love our kids - those we brought into this world and those we inherited or chose. Sometimes, we forget how to - instead, we try to be their buddies; we try to buy their love; we try to earn their acceptance or approval. Today, I was reminded of a very important lesson I learned a long time ago:
Teenagers spell love - T I M E.
Grateful for the invite....
Grateful for the ease with which an adult give her kids TIME.
...."whatever you do for the least of these, you do also for me..."
#golighttheworld