04/28/2025
Friday night was our 2nd "Light Up the Night" Glow Prom, and it was so FUN that I'm just now able to comment - even if it is from my bed. So I woke up feeling like the tin man from The Wizard of Oz, and really feeling the aches and pains of overextending myself. I opened my email to find the most inspiring and encouraging message from one of our supporters who was invited to attend. This was his first time attending a special needs prom. He copied me on a message to his Sunday school class at church. Apparently his lesson last week was about "Love in Action." I will paraphrase his message, but hit some of the highlights:
GOOD MORNING Fellow class members! Last night my wife and I had the opportunity to see Love in action as our last week’s study was presented! We attended the Glow Prom for the special needs community at the Madonna Learning Center on Poplar Ave. LOVE was a verb in this setting! I was just amazed at how much I had never realized the impact of this community.
I cannot imagine a more enjoyable event than what I experienced last night. NEON glowing everywhere, carriage rides, party bus with rocking sounds, glow lights and fog machines. That was not the half of it. A neon LED dance floor was held in place by at least a hundred young people dancing with their escorts! That is the first real special thing we noticed. Every attendee had their own partner, and that person never left the presence of his or her partner. “ Very Impressive” or could that be the act of LOVE we studied about this week! It sure Looked like that to us!
The second immediate thing I noticed was the effort put forth by the volunteer adults in attendance. I am sure they have a direct connection to these young adults but THEY were there, working and helping so many others with no consideration for themselves. SURE LOOKED LIKE LOVE IN ACTION TO ME! Love in so many definitions was on full display last night! He ended his message with a challenge:
"Make LOVE your verb as you proceed thru this life!"
I will admit that I was a bit teary eyed reading his message. He especially got me when he said in all caps, "but THEY were there." That sentence alone told me that he "got it." Sometimes we don't always have all the help we really need. We overextend ourselves to make a better life for our kids and their friends who have disabilities. But what meant the most to me in his message is not that he recognized any special efforts made, it was that he felt the LOVE that night.
1 John 3:18:
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (NIV)
