And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. I Corinthians 13:13
As the news channels all give us wall-to-wall coverage of the 1st anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, our hearts go out to the people who are still suffering, our anger still rises at these reminders of racial and economic injustice in a country whose ideals promise better than that, and our grief still chokes us a little when we think of what and who is lost, never to return. A co-worker, a New Orleans transplant, suddenly can't work any more because of his own anniversary trauma. The sounds of Professor Longhair, Doctor John, and the Neville Brothers on the stereo remind us of a misery-into-hope spirit that has not been defeated, and never will be, but that nevertheless will never be exactly the same. And the Sherman, Smith, and Batson families look forward to a trip back to the Crescent City, but know that some very special things just won't be there.
As readers of this blog know, this is also the anniversary of an event that has affected us as much as Katrina. It was August 29 of 2005 that Adam had his motorcycle accident. (See the
First Post.) Like our reactions to Katrina, our hearts go out to the Sherman family who are still struggling on multiple levels, our anger still rises at all of the "Whys", and our grief is a heavy weight sometimes. We see Adam's spirit that has not been defeated, but we also feel the loss that some things just won't ever be the same.
You may notice that I started tonight with the same scripture we chose for that first post. Faith and hope have certainly played their role this year. I remember telling my father that first week, "I am choosing hope, not feeling it." He reminded me that this is the actual definition of faith, a choice that allows us to experience hope. (see Hebrews 11:1) As we look back over the past year, I am almost overwhelmed with what our extended family has had to deal with, but somehow we did. It was hope that often simply put one foot in front of the other, that led numerous people to show kindness and visit Adam, bringing gifts, giving massages, talking to him even in a coma, pushing him to achieve and heal. Without some idea that Adam could and would get better, I don't know if Rhetta, Bill, or any other family member could have even kept on going.
Faith has shown itself in so many ways, most strongly through the prayers and spiritual encouragement given by so many of you. This year has been an incredible reminder of what we already thought we knew about prayer and the extended family of God's children. We know people in prayer rooms from Kansas to Indiana and Kentucky to South Carolina and Michigan (and maybe more) have whispered Adam's name in the ear of the Father 24/7 for this whole year. And the faith that has driven so many people to action, sharing food, friendship, financial help, time, heavy lifting, searching for missing family members, and some going way beyond anything expected has been enriching and uplifting. As James said, "Faith without works is dead." We have seen a lot of those works.
Seeing Adam with the eyes of faith has made all the difference, too. The frustration and grief that we feel all too often over what has been lost change to gratitude for this bright, funny, and positive young man who has become an encourager himself.
To be honest, though, this faith and hope have come and gone, with some brilliant shining moments of inspiration and other seasons of numb despair. Adam is struggling at times (now that he is better enough to process it) with the losses of movement, feeling, and the active life he always enjoyed so much, yet he has also provided us with many of the bright spots. The family has experienced many losses and shocks besides those connected to Adam. I can think of several losses in the extended group of this blog and members of our churches--so many changes since a year ago--and it would have been easy to give up several times but for one thing.
Paul says the
greatest of these is love. I won't try to list all the examples of love our family has experienced this year because there are just too many to list. First of all, we have a new appreciation for family love, both giving and receiving. But we just really can't say adequately how much strength we've gotten from church friends, Adam's friends, blog readers from all over, neighbors, anonymous strangers met in the hospital, health care workers, therapists of all sorts, patients in the rooms by us, parents of patients in the nursing home, people who have gone out of their way to do incredible things--all motivated simply by love. All I can say is, "Wow!" And "Thank You."
I see now that Rhetta has managed to post ahead of me tonight, and her quote of Adam says it better than I, but I do want to say this: We have prayed often for a miracle, and we often had a picture in our mind of what that miracle would look like. Based on that wish, we could really be disappointed by now. But with the eyes of faith, we see that the miracle, in addition to the level of recovery that Adam has (and will continue with), is exactly this--the power that only love in action can give. It is that love from you all that keeps giving us hope and faith. Thank you all so much for that.
