The gift I finally have permission to share with you
Back in the fall, when our kids asked Brian and me what we wanted for our 25th Anniversary, I said "I want every single one of you in the same room. And I'd love it to be a Once party."
A Once party is our code name for a dinner in which everyone at the table brings some form of art to share with everyone else. It can be original, performed, made, found, or a shared favorite. The idea comes from one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies of all time, and we first experimented with the idea for my 38th birthday party years ago.
Our kids blew us away. Andrew wrote and performed jokes in his ingenious stand-up comic way (and what better time to tell jokes then one's Silver Anniversary?), Amber & Elayna painted a sweet canvas, Rebekah read (and gave us) a beautifully-framed prayer for marriage from Tertullian, Alex and Natalie played and sang a gorgeous version of Forever Young (this gorgeous version) and Kendra wrote and performed an original song for us.
I wish I could have brought you all into the room with us for a few minutes, but maybe I'm a bit biased at the beauty of these "four(+) wild hearts" we've been charged with and now send out into the world.
Like every musician I know, Kendra was hesitant for us to share her song publicly. I think we all understand that phone video work is not the most conducive quality to translate beautiful music. I think it's worth the risk, and you'll find this beautiful anyway.
Here's Kendra's song for a gorgeous taste of the entire celebration.
If no other record of our lives is preserved, this one would tell the world everything I'd like them to know. It would tell God our Father how very grateful we are for the finished work of His Son and the energizing life of His Holy Spirit. May the gift move outward from us into this beautiful, broken world through our children's children's children.
Amen.
