#thelightchase

A few months ago I visited the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus. As I stood in room after life-filled room, I was overwhelmed by the idea that these organisms are a representation of what we humans need to embody. They just have to be. 

Each room in the conservatory is filled with hundreds of different green life forms, all focusing on the same core principle. 

Everyone has things they are great at. Everyone has things they aren’t so great at. For me, writing is one of those things I’m not so great at. So here goes nothing:

Olivia has always had a gift of succeeding in school. She graduated college on the deans list every single semester. (That’s like making it to the all star game in college sports. If there was one of those.) She is basically a professional teacher. She is uniquely gifted in tackling the right way. And not just tackling the right way, but also tackling the right thing. (She basically sacks the quarterback in the all star game.) She loves the hardest people to love. This past weekend, I watched as she flipped through pictures on her phone. These pictures were of the children that she student taught. I watched as these pictures almost brought tears to her eyes. She deeply loves the trouble makers. She loves the unloved. That sounds a lot like Jesus. That’s why I know she will be incredible in today’s big game.

Today is Olivia’s first day of school. She is a full time student, but she is not in the traditional sense. Yes. Olivia drives to a school every day. Yes. She is engaged in learning. Yes. She examines thoughtfully.

It’s what she is studying that sets her apart. She is a student of her students.

She watches them and studies them to figure out how to love them best. Those kids are her teachers. They teach her how to love and how to be loved. She sees the light of God in them. She learns from them. She grows with them.

I think we can all learn from Olivia. We can all learn how to love. Maybe, like Olivia, we should all be students of each other in our jobs, our families, and our relationships. We can all learn from each other.