Let's Order Lemonade

I made a decision today after meeting two young entrepreneurs I didn't know and may never see again.  In the early evening, when temperatures soared above 100 degrees, I decided to take a drive through a new neighborhood to check out some of the homes under construction.  As I drove around the corner of a block, I saw a young boy and a girl hard at work in the heat.  In a shady spot beside a wooden fence, together, they set up a table, a couple of chairs, and a bag full of cups. They also brought a tall pitcher of lemonade. I could tell they had the makings to become future business owners- they had chosen to set up shop on the busiest street in the neighborhood during a time when many people would be returning home from work.

I couldn't help it- I wasted time driving around until I knew they would be ready to open their store.  As I drove, I thought back to the joy I once had as a child selling Kool-Aid on the sidewalk outside my Florida home. There was something about being owning my own business that fulfilled me... And I remembered thinking that the extra spending money was nice, too.

When I saw that the kids were ready for business (loved it- they had made sandwich boards with cardboard and crayon writing and wore them as they worked), I pulled over.

"How much for a cup of lemonade?" I asked.

"Fifty cents," the little girl chirped.  (There's inflation for you.  Forty years ago, I sold mine for 5 cents a cup).

"What are you going to do with your money?" I queried.

They looked at each other, shrugged, and smiled.  "We haven't thought that far yet."

I grinned and handed them a five dollar bill; in unison, they began to pour a drink and make change for my bill.

"Tell you what," I said.  "I think I'll pass on the lemonade.  But you keep the money.  Just promise me that you'll be good to your teachers and that you'll learn something in school this year." Their eyebrows disappeared into their hairlines, their mouths rounded into o's, and they looked at me in disbelief.

"Are you sure?"  they asked.  I nodded and smiled. I didn't need the lemonade- they had already given me more than my five dollars worth of joy. They thanked me and I got back in my car and headed home.

I think from now on, I'm going to look for more opportunities to order lemonade and walk away empty-handed, but heart-filled.  

Laughing On Line

After seriously laughing out loud while rereading a Facebook thread I just had with two of my coworkers- one of whom was stuck in a training session she did not want to be in and one who, like me, was trying to cheer her up- I've decided to create a support group for teachers.  You know, a site that would help during those times when teachers are forced to sit through mindless/needless sessions that do not provide any useful ideas likely to be used in the classroom, but do fill a square (for someone, just not the person attending the session).  Here's my idea.

What if teachers were able to access- via their Smart Phones- other teachers who were available to text back and forth with them?  Kinda like what students have been trying to do for years in our classrooms.  It could go nationwide- you wouldn't even have to know the person you were communicating with.  The purpose of the texting would simply be to help teachers make it through their boredom through engaging conversation.  Something that would make their time worthwhile.  I mean think about it- if you're not going to get anything valuable out of the session, you might as well use the time to improve your literacy.  Statistics do show that people who use digital tools improve both their reading and their writing abilities.

I think I'll fly with this.  Volunteers?

Liberate Our Lawmakers

I think I have a solution for the politicians on Capitol Hill.  Since they are struggling to come to an agreement over some pretty critical issues affecting Americans, I think that for one day, we should give them a break- liberate them from making laws.  Instead of senators and congressmen and presidents and speakers giving long-winded speeches meant to please all the people who paid to put them in office, I think they should roll in a huge theater screen, kick out the press, sit back in their comfy chairs, turn off their cell phones, agree to NOT talk about politics, and en masse, watch "Captain America: The First Avenger." Heck, I'll even spring for the popcorn. Then, when the movie's over, they should go home and think about what they just watched.  I mean really think about it. Maybe- just maybe- when they return to work the next day, they'll have a better idea of what it takes to make America, America.

Learning Our Lessons

Isn't it funny how when we're too weak to change bad habits, nature sometimes will do it for us?  Take me for example.  I had two habits I wanted to get rid of- my daily doses of caffeine ala coffee and Diet Dr. Pepper and making quick stops for junk food when I felt hungry.  Enter Nature...

A few weeks ago, I got my blood results back from my yearly physical and found that my cholesterol had soared high above the normal.  It had never a problem before, but now it was bad enough that I would have to take medicine for it if I couldn't get it down. A few days later, I became violently sick.  I'm still not sure what set everything off, but no matter what I ate, my stomach burned and I felt queasy. I dropped seven pounds and eventually things got so bad that I couldn't sleep at night. Miserable and tired, I decided to fight back.

First to go was the coffee.  Next, the sodas.  I whittled back my diet until all I ate was the bland "BRAT" diet I had resorted to when my kids would come down with stomach bugs- bananas, rice, applesauce, toast.  I also drank tons of water.

Within a few days I began to feel better.  Slowly, I began to add foods back into my diet, making sure that they were low in fat, whole-grained, and healthy. I started carrying almonds in my purse so that if I got hungry while I was out, I could pass up the fast food food places.

Two weeks have now passed and I feel better.  My stomach's on the mend, I'm eating healthier, exercising more, and saving money and time on not stopping for "quick fix" junk food.  Although I never want to be as sick again as I was a few weeks ago, I'm glad that in the end, being sick made me into a healthier person.

Lots of Loot

Just thinking... Texas A&M University just gave their head baseball coach a $400,000 raise (not salary, but RAISE) for taking his team to the World Series.  Why does that happen in the sports world, but not in the academic world?  Think about it.  In classrooms all across the United States, teachers are working under the same stressful conditions (high-stakes pressure, tough performance standards, limited budgets... oh, wait.  I don't think that applies in sports) as coaches do with students who, unlike scholarship athletes,  were not hand-selected to be in their classrooms, who often don't want to be in their classrooms, and cannot be "benched" when they don't perform as desired.  Yet somehow, these teachers are able to draw out "homeruns" and "high scores" and "winning teams" from the students under their care.  In other words, they take their students to the World Series of Life, load the bases, and bring them all in.  Yet what is their reward?  I haven't heard of any making six-digit salaries never mind six-digit raises. Just something to think about it...

Little Old Ladies

Public bathrooms are a great place for molding character.  Take yesterday for example.  While I washed my hands and minded my own business, I couldn't help but overhear two little old ladies- each in their own stalls- publicly airing theirs. Within the short span of time it took me to scrub my hands clean and dry them, I heard more about their most private bodily functions than I would share even with my own doctor.  Using colorful and descriptive speech, they complained about how often they emptied their bladders, how useless their fiber supplements were, why toilet paper couldn't be softer...  As they exited their stalls, still griping to each other about their excretory systems and oblivious to my presence, their conversation made me think. When I am old, what will consume my conversations?  Right now I talk about things that I am passionate about- my faith, my family, my teaching, the power of words... But what will I be passionate about when I'm old?  I hope it's something more than my regularity...

My lol for the day- Little Oscar Lunging

Living Out Lessons

I've noticed an amazing phenomena... Whatever my preacher's sermon details on Sunday seems to play itself out during my week. For example, if the pastor's message offers me Biblical truths to improve my patience, then multiple opportunities to try my patience pop up throughout the week.  If he highlights tools to use for building successful  relationships, the relationships I'm in will be challenged and the ones I've ignored will resurface to be dealt with.

It reminds me of what I do in my classroom as a teacher- I give a "mini lesson" to offer information to my students, and then follow with structured practices where they can correctly apply the skill. The ultimate goal is that the more my students practice something, the more it will become a part of who they are (researchers say something has to be seen/done at least 28 times before it is acquired fully).

It makes me realize that life is just one big classroom- God individually tailors mini lessons to suit our needs and gives us as many practice opportunities as it takes for us to get it right.

Wednesday Morning lol

Lol in the sky

sofi-lol: Sticky Notes

sofi-lol: Sticky Notes: "I think that the sky is God's giant sticky note. At any given time, in any given place, should a person choose to take the time to stop and..."

Sticky Notes

I think that the sky is God's giant sticky note.  At any given time, in any given place, should a person choose to take the time to stop and look up, they can read their own private posting from their Father.

lol photo from Georgia Davila...

Life or Legalism?

I love the New Testament scene the apostle, John, paints for us in the eighth chapter of his book.  Setting- dawn at the Temple.  Enter- Jesus. Action- he begins to teach.  One by one, the common people trickle in to learn from the Master.  Not so the “religious hierarchy” of the day- the scribes and the Pharisees.  Rather than lift God up through worship at the Temple, they seek to bring Jesus down with legalism. Their plan?  Undo him with a question.  Since they have no provable crime they can accuse Jesus of, they seek a victim and find one… A woman, caught in the act of adultery. 

Ignoring the male half of the guilty pair, they drag the petrified woman into the Temple, shattering the lessons of love and forgiveness that Jesus had been sharing with the crowd. The crowd falls silent as the Temple patriarchs shove the woman to the ground before the lowly Teacher.

“Teacher, “ they demand. “This woman was caught in the act of committing adultery.  In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women (note how they ignore the part of the law that called for the consenting partner to be stoned, too).  So what do you say?” 

Jesus could have explained his answer.  He could have argued his beliefs.  All- knowing that he was, he could have unveiled their devious plot to disprove him.  But he doesn’t.  Instead, he calmly bends down and begins writing in the sand. 

The accusers persist in their questioning. “What do you say? What is your answer?”  Though John doesn’t describe it for me, I can picture the smug looks of self-satisfaction upon their faces.  The twisted grins of superiority.  The hardened looks of legalism. I’ve noted the same looks on people’s faces in my world.

 

The questioning grows to a frenzy; at last, Jesus straightens. “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.”  That’s it. No huge legal refutation. Rather, an offer.  Whoever has not sinned, pick your rock.  Be the first. Throw back your wrist and aim for the sinner. The crowd stands mute.  The air grows still. Once more, Jesus stoops down and begins writing in the sand.

John never explains what Jesus wrote in the sand that day.  What he does tell us is that, “When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men.  Only He was left, with the woman in the center.”

I like to picture it this way… In the center of the Temple courtyard, Jesus towers over the accused woman. Head bent, body curled inward, her fetal position symbolizes the guilt in her heart, the price she knows she must now pay. Her heart pounds in rhythm to the taunts of the crowds and insistent questioning of the religious leaders. The dust in her mouth mingles with the blood lust pulsing in the early morning air.  Has she heard of Jesus?  Does she know who he is? John doesn’t tell us. But thousands of years later, readers will witness the adulteress witnessing her Savior.

Jesus stoops down beside her.  Rather than reach for a rock, he pushes his finger into the sand. Slowly, he arcs his drawn line around her, encircling her weeping form with an imaginary frame…  Outlining the guilty target with a bull’s-eye “o.” He finishes the task, and straightens.  The message is now clear.  His point has been made- she is the target. Jesus pauses until the voices fall silent.  All wait to hear his condemnation. “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Protectively, the woman curls up even tighter. Readies for the first blow.  Wishes without hope that somehow, somewhere, someone will defend her defenseless case. 

Jesus crouches before the crowd; once more, his finger digs into the sand.  His finger moves in a straight pattern as he draws a line between the onlookers and woman.  When finished, he rises and moves to the woman’s other side… He crouches before her accusers.  Again, he dips his finger into the sand and draws.  A straight line. A boundary.

The crowd quiets.  The accusers’ questions cease.  The lowly Teacher waits.  He knows what they see in their own hearts. “One by one,” John tells us, “beginning with the older men,” they start to leave.  Eventually, only Jesus and the adulteress and the figures drawn in the sand remain.  The Master rises and speaks once more.  

“Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you?”

The adulteress raises her tear-stained face and with a dirt-stained heart answers, “No one, Lord.”

Jesus nods.  “Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”

Brushing off the dirt of the Temple, the woman rises.  Wrapping her new understanding of love and forgiveness about her, she looks once more into the face of her Savior and leaves.

Jesus remains alone.  Beside him, the rigid walls of the Temple soar into the sky. Below his feet, the dirt of the courtyard stains his calloused feet.  In front of him, he sees his imprint on the world. Crudely finger-carved into the sand, a long vertical line “l”, a round “o,” a long vertical line “l”.  lol… Life over legalism.

Lol! I can link on line from my iPhone!

The "lol" Rationale

As a result of many things that have happened during my life, at fifty, I find myself taking more time to open my eyes to the beauty of living.  I've learned to embrace the simplistically complicated, logically illogical, tragically happy mishmash world in which I live rather than focusing on all the unfairness in life. By doing so, I have found a victorious laughter deep inside my soul that has strengthened me during my most difficult times… That has given me something more than temporary happiness… That has brought me an unconquerable joy. In response, I wanted to "live out loud"- to dedicate a site purely to lol's. To random sitings, observations, and lessons learned about laughing out loud. Cheers!