There are few greater delights than having the "grown kids" around the table.
We are 1600 miles from the realities of life and ministry in Long Beach.
We are sitting at the family dinner table in our home away from home.
After a great day of playing on the lake, a delectable pasta dinner, we are playing a crazy game of Dominoes and laughing...but there is a duet of laughter that sounds like Handel's Messiah to me.
It is the laughter of my two daughters...one born into our home and one chosen into our home.
The older "born" daughter laughs with the joy of being secure in the 27 years of living in the love of her parents, the stability of a healthy, holy home. Her craziness an expression of her freedom to be herself because her foundations are so deep and firm. Her experience of grace has been a steady, slowly building gratitude for the family she was placed in at birth.
The younger "chosen" daughter laughs with the joy of being secure in her new parent's love.
The pain of loss and disappointment is being replaced choice by choice, grace by grace with the laughter of blessing, acceptance, and affirmation. While living with a sense of love and loyalty for her deceased, birth family, she is embracing the new love of her chosen family and it is setting her laughter free. She sounds like a 7 year old with a lilting silly laughter that is the music of heaven to this father's ears.
We are 1600 miles from the realities of life and ministry in Long Beach.
We are sitting at the family dinner table in our home away from home.
After a great day of playing on the lake, a delectable pasta dinner, we are playing a crazy game of Dominoes and laughing...but there is a duet of laughter that sounds like Handel's Messiah to me.
It is the laughter of my two daughters...one born into our home and one chosen into our home.
The older "born" daughter laughs with the joy of being secure in the 27 years of living in the love of her parents, the stability of a healthy, holy home. Her craziness an expression of her freedom to be herself because her foundations are so deep and firm. Her experience of grace has been a steady, slowly building gratitude for the family she was placed in at birth.
The younger "chosen" daughter laughs with the joy of being secure in her new parent's love.
The pain of loss and disappointment is being replaced choice by choice, grace by grace with the laughter of blessing, acceptance, and affirmation. While living with a sense of love and loyalty for her deceased, birth family, she is embracing the new love of her chosen family and it is setting her laughter free. She sounds like a 7 year old with a lilting silly laughter that is the music of heaven to this father's ears.
1 comment:
couldn"t have said it better myself. i've been blessed with two sons and one daugther born unto me and one son chosen. words can"t discribe the joy i"ve had as he chose to call me dad while eagerly seeking my approval in all that he did and then watching him grow to be the young man i proudly call my son.
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