My child, listen when your father corrects you.
    Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
 What you learn from them will crown you with grace
    and be a chain of honor around your neck. – Proverbs 1:8-9

Now this is an interesting phenomenon (and something I’m not sure I am prepared to deal with on any number of levels); our first grandchild turns thirteen today.

That’s right, David is now a teenager. I have to let that sink in…

Okay, I am now breathing into a paper bag. Inhale, slow count to five… long exhale… breathe… slow count to five… Now repeat. All right, I don’t feel quite so light-headed now.

Pause for another deep breath…

But really? No way! Could this be possible?! I still clearly remember the moment in 2011 when we became grandparents. Rebekah and I were sitting in the restaurant, Chili’s I think, on a Sunday after church. It had been the most difficult morning imaginable, with the tragic loss of a dear friend just a couple of hours earlier. Pain and the grief hung heavy in the air.

Then, during lunch, the phone rings. We get to talk with Naomi in the hospital, and we hear that beautiful baby cry. Suddenly the darkness of such sadness and grief is flooded with light, and the light is so compelling that this new life reaches out and spills over into our friend John’s family; and his widow, Peggy, says the birth of David brings her some hope and comfort too.

You flooded this world with light from the very moment of your birth, David! What a beautiful gift you are! Your sweet spirit, your compassion, your kindness, your intelligence, your creative energy, your dreams; they are all, as the classic 60’s song goes, “Some Kind of Wonderful”.

And now you are a teen. What can I say?

Listen up, David, I have words:

I am going to keep it simple, David. What I want you to know, going forward, is that you are loved with such love as few people every fully understand.

And it’s not just me and Grandmama (and your other grandparents), not just your parents and your siblings; this love is yours from the God who imagined, designed and created you and who offered – offers – you as this beautiful and purposeful gift to the world.

And get this: the moment you arrived you multiplied that love in more ways than I could possibly count! What an incredible opportunity! What an amazing joy! What a deep and consequential responsibility.

So lean into this gift, David. Be the kind of loving, generous, grace-filled, compassionate and creative person God gave you the ability to be. Be the teen other teens come to because they know you have the gift of grace and kindness. Be the young person who builds people up when the world is tearing them down. Be the family member who builds up your mom and your dad and your siblings when they need a little encouragement too.

Light, David; light and love literally flooded into this world October 16, 2011. I am so thankful that you were born, that you are our grandson and that God is so creative and generous with the way His light is splashed around in our family.

So this is what I want you to do, newly teenaged David: Shine; let the love and the light flow through you and just shine!

Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. – 1 Timothy 4:12

In love, always – GRANDADDY