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|Life and love are turbulent sacraments. Life, the first gift, is the moment when everyone’s story begins . . .
. . . but love is the greatest of all gifts, the ultimate generosity of God, Himself.
My dear Jackie, here it is, the first day of the New Year 2016, the first day of another year to love you, and I am thinking of you from far away.
Can it be that the most obvious things in life are often the most difficult to see, especially when they are exactly right in front of me? During these 28 years we have shared together, you have given me the gift of love, when you didn’t have to.
At times, you have worked harder, and given greater energy than I to our life together, when you didn’t have to. At times, you have listened to the most boring details about subjects no one else has ever cared about, when you didn’t have to. You have even decided to notice a certain football game on Saturdays in autumn, when you didn’t have to.
I love you for it.
Perhaps love is your dignity and strength. Perhaps love, that most powerful of all commitments, is the rocket fuel that keeps you going. Perhaps love compels you, the most honorable person I have ever known, to freely risk everything, even the finality of life, for the protection and defense and care of others. Perhaps love has empowered you to laugh so easily without fear of the future.
Yes, perhaps love … the very essence of the Maker of All Things.
Life and love are turbulent sacraments. Life, the first gift, is the moment when everyone’s story begins, but love is the greatest of all gifts, the ultimate generosity of God, Himself.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails … and I love you, Jackie.
Yes, Jackie, today is one of those sacred days when God laughs quietly behind me, taps me on the shoulder and whispers, “This is as good as it gets. I love you, and everyone you know, and everyone you don’t know.”