Without a Word_ How a Boy's Unspoken Love Changed Everything - Jill Kelly [78]
Dear Mom and Dad…
Mom, my life would not be the same without you. You have taught me that with God all things are possible. Without you, I don’t know what I would do. You have been there for me when I felt like there was never going to be a tomorrow. You were there through the stomachaches and the tears, through the bad dreams and the mistakes.
Dad, words cannot express the way I feel about you. I remember writing a report about you for school. I remember going to basketball practice and my basketball games with you and going to football games with you. I remember you telling me to block out and take electrolyte strips that I thought tasted disgusting. Even though I don’t always want to practice, thank you for pushing me to do it. You are the greatest dad. You had many fans cheering you on during your football career. You were their hero. Daddy, you’re always my hero, always and forever.
Mom and Dad, today as you renew your wedding vows, I believe that you are making a confession of faith. Today you are standing in front of your friends and family, showing them that you are renewing your wedding vows because you are both now children of the Lord. You are showing your peers that, even now, after all you have been through, God is love and He is in control. And the verse I chose for you today is 1 Corinthians 13:4–8, 13: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
I love you, Mom and Dad.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the pavilion.
Love certainly was in the air that evening. More than a love between family and friends. More than a love between a newly committed husband and wife. Love even bigger than that of a mother and father for their treasured, one and only son.
We were drawn to the gravity of a love greater and deeper than our love, pain, and sorrow. A love more profound. We’d tasted this love in the face of suffering and were now compelled to share it with anyone and everyone. A love that is patient and kind, longsuffering and never failing. A love between a Father and His Son. Love beyond comprehension. Love that conquers all. And though love was exchanged in many ways that evening, it was the love spoken without a word that changed everything.
Clearly, we didn’t have it all figured out then, and we still don’t. We’re on a marriage journey for life that continues to need constant prayer. But here’s the important thing: we are not the same people anymore. While it didn’t happen overnight, our family was changed and we’re on a totally different program now, following a new playbook for life. And it’s incredible.
Jim and I have absolutely no desire to go back to that old life filled with selfishness and betrayal. We didn’t come to this place in our journey by chance. We never determined to live for each other rather than ourselves by our own efforts. Our lives were so saturated in sin and self-indulgence that only a divine work of God could have rescued us. And it did. God made us desperate for Him—and in that desire for Him, He gave us our marriage back, better than it ever was, stronger than it ever could have been. If not for love, I’m certain Jim and I would’ve divorced. Because of love, we’ll never be the same.
In Jim’s Own Words
I have to admit, the idea of renewing our vows was Jill’s. I always thought people did this when they were in their fifties or sixties. After talking it through, however, it made sense for us to go before God and renew our marriage commitment again. At our first wedding, neither of us really understood the magnitude of what it meant to be committed. I know I didn’t. Everything was so different then. We were both different. And then everything changed when Hunter got sick. Our love for him