"Give, and you will receive. Your gift will
return to you in full--pressed down, shaken together to make room for
more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will
determine the amount you get back." (Luke 6:38 NLT)
It was a beautiful Summer’s day yet I was pulling into a nearly
empty elementary school parking lot. I was taking my children to the
first day of Energy Express, a Summer reading program that gave college
age kids a job working with elementary school children. Still, my young
daughter didn’t seem too enthused about it. She was moody and sullen
and not too happy about spending part of her Summer vacation back at
school. That changed by the end of the day, though. She came home
happy with a joyous light in her eyes. She talked about all the fun
activities, games, and crafts they had done that day and how much she
liked her teacher. She showed me her new books with a smile and we
reread them together.
It was another Summer’s day and another elementary school parking
lot. I was there to pick up my daughter after work. She was in college
now and had taken a job as one of the teachers at Energy Express. I
waited patiently while the laughing children ran out of the school to
get on their buses to head home. My daughter walked out behind them
smiling peacefully. Just then one of her students, a young boy with
very curly brown hair turned and gave her a goodbye hug. I smiled when
I saw it and we discussed her day on the drive home. I was so proud of
her. She had taken all of the learning, laughter, and love that her
Energy Express teachers had given her as a child and now passed it on to
a new generation of children. I wondered whom they would pass it on to
as well. One thing I was sure of, it would never end.
The truth is that if any one brings beauty, love, learning, or
goodness to our world, it lives on. It lives on in our minds. It lives
on in our souls. It lives on in our lives. It lives on in Heaven’s
heart and God’s smile. Share all the love you can then! Do all the
good you can! Create all the wisdom and beauty you can! Because it
will live on!
By: Joseph J. Mazzella