May 29, 2010 | Mama Smith

To my parents...

...a happy, happy anniversary to you!

I won’t write a sappy honorarium to how perfect our family is or how seamless your marriage may have been. But I will write about what it means to be a daughter in the family Jesus has helped you both create.

You have taught us siblings how to love, to forgive, and how to stand by each other through thick and thin…

You have taught us to laugh at ourselves and to find rest in knowing we are loved…not just by you all, but by the Perfect Father/Mother in Christ…

You have taught us it’s okay to fail…and fail miserably…because it’s just not about how “well” we do life, it’s about how much we are delighted in, IN OUR FAILURES, that define us and shape us. You’ve helped us learn what it means to really be free and tethered lightly to this life.

You have taught us to be a little wild and crazy at times…

And have not just talked about living a kingdom life, out of your comfort zone, leaving behind the things you love to live for the One you love…you all have done it….

You gave up a lot to make a move from high-class Virginia, to punk-goth Camden, London. You left behind empty words of what it means to live boldly and you all began to live it. In all the pain, heartache, and struggles that living presents.

You have loved Brighton & Levi with that same passion and hunger for life. And they’ve yet to realize just why they love their Mimi & Hee-ya so much…

We all know marriage has it’s ups and downs, but you have taught us kids what it means to walk through the storms, enjoy the rain, and wait for the rainbow that’s around the bend.

You have given us a home where we feel loved & safe. Where we haven’t been loved perfectly or loved perfectly ourselves, but rather through the falleness we’ve learned the model of forgiveness and humility…from our parents. A rare, rare gift. Because that is what has shaped us. Not going into life feeling like we have to do it right, but knowing we have freedom to mess up, move out in repentance and be forgiven and learn to forgive.

That is the family I want. One that hurts and struggles and fails, but knows they are loved and safe and free to not get it right. By their parents, by their siblings, and by the One who will never fail us, never be disappointed in us, never leave us.

Thank you all for loving us kids, for loving each other, but mostly for leaning hard into Jesus as you tried and failed and rejoiced in the beauty and pain life has offered our family.