All they need is love.

Okay, maybe we need a little more than love.  Food, air, water... there are some other things that matter too.

But the longer I work with the kids in our IMPACT club, the longer I work at this office, the longer I live in this town full of lonely people with beautiful stories begging to be told, the more I think that this article gets it right.

Please read it.  Really.

In case you don't have time, here's the important take-away.  Love, which is not only the Christian virtue and greatest commandment, but also a way of speaking and behaving that communicates value and worth, really matters.  In fact, in social science, studies indicate that "love" is an "independent variable that varies inversely with negative individual, social, and civic outcomes and directly with positive individual and pro-social, pro-civic outcomes: lower rates of abuse and neglect, higher rates of self-esteem and self-confidence and more positive educational results."

In other words, kids who know they are loved do better.  In tons of ways.

So here's to loving our IMPACT kids -- even in these last few crunch weeks before Christmas, when we're all tired and cold and ready for a break.

We'll keep you posted.  But for now, the reminder of Michael Gerson's article is sticking with me.