Faith, Hope, and Love; But the Greatest of These is LOVE

Life is most certainly a Journey!  This year has been one of trial, testing, sickness, and struggle for our family.  But what is most amazing is that in the midst of the heartaches of life, God is always faithful to appear.  Yesterday, our son celebrated his 16th birthday and on any normal year, it would have been a giant fanfare of celebration.  I would have gone out of my way to make sure it was spectacular enough for him to "feel" loved!!  Not because that is something He requires or expects but because I really do "feel" loved when people celebrate me on my birthday!

However this year it was different, I still wanted to make sure He felt loved, but the time and space of his birthday happened to take place away from home, right in the middle of his father's battle with throat cancer.   I had already purchased him what I thought would be the perfect gift, and had made plans for dinner at his favorite restaurant!  I wanted his day to be as special as it could be away from home and all of his friends.  I woke up early in the morning, I mean early, 3 am early!  Only because my sleep schedule has been so thrown off by my husband's care.  I decided to put together a slide show of pictures to celebrate Taylor!  What should have been an easy task turned out to be quite the endeavor.  I am guessing that trying to complete such a task at 3 am was destined to be difficult, seeing as how the wee hours of the morning are not my peak time for mental capacity.  Never the less, I completed the task, tears and all, as I scrolled through memory lane of the last 16 years of our lives.  Where does time go?  It is as slippery and inconspicuous as black ice on the roadways in the wintertime.  It sneaks up on you and before you know it you've landed in a completely different time and space, but I digress.

Taylor awoke, his present wrapped in a bright display of birthday-themed paper, we gathered as a family to watch the slideshow, I had literally just completed.  The boys mocked and laughed at the pictures and the goofiness of them as they scrolled across the screen.  Claiming we had solid blackmail material and it was now certain that they would never become POTUS.  David and I watched with heartfelt joy and bittersweet sorrow all at the same time, proud of who they were becoming, all the while missing those tiny toddler years when we could do nothing wrong in their eyes.

In the midst of our nostalgia, our morning quickly took a solid left turn.  All of a sudden, my husband became faint and then became incoherent for a few minutes.  The slideshow stopped, EMS was called, while the boys and I went into the full-on adrenaline rush of quiet panic...well, maybe not so quiet for me.  Our morning had changed in an instant and my husband's life was flashing right before our eyes once again this year.  We were scared and our priorities quickly shifted from celebrating Taylor's 16th birthday to "is Dad going to be okay?"

David ended up being okay, he came too while I was on the phone with EMS, and when they arrived his vitals were perfect.  We quickly packed up and headed to David's doctor, since we were now late for our appointment.  They determined he was severely dehydrated, makes sense, he has been struggling to eat and drink for the last several weeks from the pain in his throat and mouth.  They hooked him up to some fluids and we watched as the life flew back into his body.  Praise the Lord for doctors and medicine!

It was getting late into the morning and none of us had eaten breakfast.  So once my husband was stable, I knew I needed to take the boys to get some food.  As we sat in the restaurant and the let down of adrenaline set in, I could see the fatigue flood over Taylor.  This was not how I wanted him to spend his 16th birthday!  I wanted him to know how loved he was and how special we truly thought he was.  How would I ever make it up to him?  How would I ever turn this day around for him?

When we returned home we proceeded with the slideshow and Taylor opened his gift, a new phone.  He was elated.  Except for one thing, being completely sidetracked the past four months with David's care, I had inadvertently ordered his phone in a lovely lavender color with a clear glittery case!  To be fair, I ordered it online, the case said clear and online the lavender color looked silver.  Taylor wasn't going to say a word.  He was so sweet about it, quietly thinking of ways he could disguise the color.  His brother helped him out. "Mom, did you realize that Taylor's new phone was purple?"  Oh, my goodness, so much for trying to pull off the perfect birthday gift!  This could be remedied with a trip to the phone store!  So we trecked off, to exchange his very lavender phone!

My morning that started out at 3 am was quickly turning into late afternoon.  We had plans for dinner and David was feeling quite exhausted from the events of the day, himself.  He texted me, "Do you think Taylor would mind if I didn't make it to dinner?"  Of course, none of us would mind, we knew he needed to rest.  But then, my sweet son looked at me and said, "Mom it really isn't that big of a deal.  Why don't we just pick up dinner and take it home so we can eat with Dad."  My heart overflowed.  This kid rolled with every curveball that was thrown at him on his 16th birthday.  He had been cool as a cucumber when I was panicking, he was perfectly content if his birthday was overlooked, and now he was going to forego dining out at his favorite restaurant so we could eat at home with his father!

Teenagers can get a bad rap, yes, they are learning to become independent, yes, they want more freedom and control and yes they really do get wrapped up in their own world of teenage drama - that is very real, might I add.  However, what this sweet boy showed me today was that beyond all of that is a caring, strong, capable and tender spirit that is smart enough to empathize with others' pain.  That is able to sort through their own worries, concerns, and fears and recognize what is most important in the moment.  That when push comes to shove they can rise up, and see the world around them for what it is, outside the scope of their teenage world.  And they can still be content when things do not go their way, even if it is on their 16th birthday!

I stood in awe of the man my son was becoming and at the maturity he exhibited in that moment.  I stood in awe of his compassion and his empathy for our family and his father.  I saw the display of Christ in my son yesterday, his willingness to lay himself aside for his father.  I was reminded of the passage of scripture in 1 Corinthians 13:13, "Now these three remain, faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love."  Taylor's love for not only his worldly father but also his heavenly father allowed him to rise up above the circumstances of the day, see outside his own little world, into the big picture, and ya'll it taught this momma a big lesson!  We need to give our kiddos more credit because their hearts are BIG and full of LOVE!  I couldn't have been prouder of my son than I was on his 16th birthday.