blessed.

Almost every Sunday I get annoyed with Sterling for playing on his cell during church, wishing he'd just listen and let all this great wisdom sink in. Or sometimes when there are a dozen empty diet Coke cans scattered throughout the living room at the end of the day, I get so frustrated wishing he'd be more thoughtful and clean up after himself.

I admit that I sometimes forget how good he is. How kind, and loving, and thoughtful, and caring he is.

He's constantly giving money away. When we're at the check-out at Safeway and the cashier asks if he'd like to donate to whatever foundation, he always says yes, and it takes me aback, because I always brush those things off without even thinking. Or like when he gave money to a monk visiting our campus. Or when we were driving up to Moscow together, some rude guy asked me for gas money and I turned him down, not wanting to be nice to someone who was just mean to me--when I told Sterling about this guy, I expected him to be on my side and say something to back me up, instead he looped around the parking lot looking for the guy so we could buy him gas.

Yesterday, he reached out to a guy who needs someone to care. The kid bore his testimony in church, and spoke of some hard things he was going through. And Sterling cared. I hope that I would've done the same thing, but I can't honestly say I know that I would. He did it out of nowhere. We were about to watch The Office when he said he wanted to send this guy an email quickly, just saying he cares and is there if he needs anything. The guy seemed to have really appreciated it, and I can tell Sterling made a difference.

I want to be more like that. I want to be able to recognize that people who are mean probably need more love and kindness than anyone else. I want to put others first more often, and people I don't even know. I want to be able to give away my money without thinking about how much I'd like to keep it for myself. I want to make doing small, Christ-like gestures more of a second-nature thing.

I'm blessed that I have someone so generous and caring, and who inspires me to better myself everyday.