This weekend marked another funeral attendance of a relative that I needed to mark down in my journey through life book. I am fully an adult now and I don’t really like it. Funerals seem more often than weddings and births. Death is always lingering near us and funerals force the curtain that separates us to turn translucent. We can not hide behind food, exercise, alcohol, movies or any other distraction of choice at a funeral. Especially not a funeral where the body is absent of spirit and is displayed openly in a bed of cloth and wood. Death is literally staring us in the face.

I look around the room and remember for the billionth time just how fleeting life is. Cousins who were young now look old and the people who I thought were old as a young man now look ancient. This reaffirms to me again how I need to concentrate on the moment. I attempt to find joy and growth in whatever situation I am afforded.

During the sermon, the pastor spoke about a theme that keeps popping up across every spectrum of learning I am engaged in. In his eulogy, he spoke about how the basics of Christianity can be boiled down to one simple theme. Love. If you boil it all down to one simple idea it comes down to love. Now Uncle Tom, who was the deceased family member I spoke of above, was the epitome of love. You couldn’t be in his midst for more than two minutes before you felt the love emanating from his being. He made you feel welcome and was the kind of man that you wanted to be around. There are not many people in the world who radiate love.

It is with his death fresh in my mind that I write about two different acts of love that I would like bring to your awareness. The first act of love is the kind of selfless act that we do because we want to make life better for other people. This involves buying a gift for children that attend a school that can’t provide what they need. These students are not mine and the teacher is anonymously dispersing them out in their school district. A lot of teachers that read my blog are Physical Education and Health teachers. You will see listed balls and puzzles. We know that kids need to play and be physically active. Whatever your occupation these children need us to help provide them the opportunity to interact and love each other. Please help these children by clicking on this link and spreading your good fortune with others. When you click on the shipping address choose the gift registry address that is listed. It is a small gesture for us with a huge impact for them.

Once again Andy Milne (@carmelhealth) has created the #SlowChatGiftX. This is an international gift exchange with educators from all over the world! All you have to do is sign up here. Fill out the Google Form and you will be a part of the largest secret holiday gift exchange in the world! Love shows itself when we connect with other people. The very idea that we acknowledge each other’s existence when we enter the same time and space is a form of love. This idea that we can connect over a gift with someone from halfway across the United States or the world is fantastic. The coolest part of this besides giving someone something that can positively impact their world is that you have no idea where your gift is coming from. Go check out the hashtag from last year it is so cool to read through and see what thoughtful gifts people gave.

As election day approaches and we choose who to vote for remember the idea of love. Use your choice and voice to vote for the candidate that will work to create a more just society for everyone, even those that don’t look and act like us. Vote with love.