Today's thought from Hazelden is:

If you would be loved, love and be lovable.
--Benjamin Franklin

We all desire to be loved. Our common human characteristic is our need to count in someone else's life. At least one other person needs us, we tell ourselves, when we feel least able to accept life's demands. How alike we all are. The paradox is that our own need for love is lessened when we bestow it on others. Give it away and it returns. A promise, one we can trust.

The reality about love and its path from sender to receiver and back again is often distant from our minds. More often we stew and become obsessed with the lack of love's evidence in our lives. Why isn't he smiling? Why didn't she care? Has someone more interesting taken our place? Choosing to offer love, rather than to look for it, will influence every experience we have. Life will feel gentler, and the rewards will be many and far reaching.

Loving others promises me the love I desire. But I can't expect it if I don't give it first.
From: The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey and Martha Vanceburg



Bing! I needed to hear this today especially with the way I was feeling last night. I was so lonely and wanted so badly to hear a friendly voice on the other end of the line. I wound up going to bed at 8:30 because I was so sad and tired.

Today we had Special Olympics. Taylor had 10 people there to cheer her on and she did fairly well with her behavior today. I was a little put out with Kim, the assistant that went with me. First she chooses the easiest of the children to work with and when we get outside our school she doesn't tend to the majority of his needs. Then when we've sent her to restraint training she won't use what she learned to control Taylor. I can't win for losing. I was also a little put out with the resource teacher that went. She doesn't seem to attempt to control children. She leaves it to the assistants. She also didn't do much to help the volunteers in getting kids routed to events. I don't know the names of most of the kids so I was of no help. But for me the real lesson was learning to sit on the sidelines and letting others get kids to their events. So maybe that's what the resource teacher was doing, too. Since I don't know her that well I guess I need to reserve judgment.