ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS LOVE!
A friend just wrote to me this week about how much a story I had told her meant to her when she found herself in a difficult situation with people who were less than hospitable to her, a new person in the community. This is the story I had told her about Nancy.
Nancy was a student in my very first English class, and while I could see that she had writing talent, Nancy was by far the most difficult student I had in that class. Not a day went by that she did not interrupt me, challenge me, or in some way try to make my life miserable. As a new young and idealistic teacher, I decided at the beginning of the year, I was simply going to LOVE Nancy, no matter what she did or how she treated me.
Although it was not always easy, I did pretty well until we had what later became an annual Christmas open house in our home for all my high school English students. That meant that Nancy now knew where I lived. From that point on, often we would get calls for help in the middle of the night, and when she was kicked out of her own home for poor behavior, she would show up on our doorstep, and we would take her in. However, even then, she continued to cause disturbances in my classroom.
Yet…I continued, with God’s help, to LOVE her.
At the end of the year, the principal called me into his office and told me he had a request that he wanted to share with me. Nancy had come to him that week and had requested TO BE IN MY CLASS NEXT YEAR! Needless to say, I was not thrilled; however, the principal felt that it was such a positive step for Nancy to ask for this that even though it was against all the rules, they would allow it if I were willing. Oh, my, now I was REALLY being tested!
After a discussion with my very patient new husband, we decided that I would simply continue to love this very needy child. Again, nearly every day was a challenge with Nancy in my class, and at one point she even had to stay with us for several days after a self-inflicted health issue because she had nowhere else to go when her disgusted parents turned her away. When she was committed to a hospital later in the year, I was the only one who was allowed to visit. Going into a locked facility alone when I was eight months pregnant was a bit frightening, but I was committed to LOVE. Finally, the year came to an end, and Nancy moved on to the other campus.
Almost twenty years passed, and one morning my doorbell rang unexpectedly. When I went to answer it, there was Nancy! She asked to come in, and during our conversation she told me something I will NEVER forget. She said, “You are the only reason I am alive today. I tried my very best to make you hate me like everyone else so I could kill myself..but you just kept on loving me.”
What an amazing lesson about LOVE! Nancy, the child who had tested me for two years in every way possible to prove that she was not lovable, now works with disabled adults and is making a precious contribution to our world.
Lou Holtz once said, “Why is it that the people who need love and understanding the most usually deserve it the least?” How true that statement is! When we truly commit to caring without any thought of personal reward, we can change lives.
May I never forget the power of LOVE.
To learn more about caring in your workplace, see Barbara’s book, CARE Packages for the Workplace – Dozens of Little Things You Can Do to Regenerate Spirit at Work, and to learn more ideas for caring in your home, get CARE Packages for the Home -Dozens of Ways to Regenerate Spirit Where You Live at www.barbaraglanz.com/products/books.php3.
