SIXTY YEARS

This evening my parents celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary surrounded by family and friends.

Pretty cool - my parents and their marriage and commitment and all of that.

Hard to do it justice by singing songs and eating and giving awards and cards. But that's what we did and they were happy.

Happy to be surrounded by their kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids and good friends.

Happy to share a delicious hot meal. It was greek food which struck me as kind of funny considering my Mennonite heritage and what I grew up eating. But it was delicious and it was special to be with that particular group of people.

All gathering to love and honor my parents.

I looked out over the gathering and saw some sad faces.

A bittersweet evening with many "empty spots" so to speak.

At this age there has been much loss in the midst of living full lives and aging.

Aged wisdom, loneliness, resignation, contentment, joy.

They've seen alot, these faces. Most of them are now alone.

One in the group had Alzheimer's, but I saw her singing and enjoying herself regardless.

They sang and gave gifts and rejoiced with my parents who are still both coherent and upright, albeit blind and deaf!!

I made a joke that our family is truly a biblical one. We contain the lame the blind and the deaf all in one immediate family circle. A miracle just waiting to happen...

And yet we have so much joy and laughter.

My sweet mama is the source of so much of that laughter and joy. And of course her source and wellspring is Jesus.

Even though my Dad doesn't know Him yet, I took the liberty of speaking openly and often and freely of Jesus during the evening.

I don't know how to celebrate something that momentous without giving Him the glory and singing His praises.

It was good to sing together.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness, There is Beauty all around, When there's love at home...

The awards were humorous but full of truth.

Cheerful award goes to Oma.

Generosity award goes to Opa.

Pruning award to Opa, leading to a forgiveness award for Oma.

Pet eradication award to Opa, Best Borscht, Buns and Napoleon Torte award to Oma.

And on and on it went.

The great grandchildren happily delivering the awards to Oma and Opa who by now were wearing sparkly crowns and big smiles.

And my brother with his new lady friend, smiling with his own newfound love at the end of the table. One aged romance and one newly budding.

And so the story goes.

Two lives well lived. One eternally secure the other precariously hanging, not yet secure.

Creating a legacy of other lives.

We're praying for His Kingdom to come in all of them.

It's all that really matters in the end.