Ryan is far nicer to me than he ought to be.  When he got home from a long day at work on Friday, I hit him with a big (and possibly unreasonable) request.  I wanted to go visit my mom in suburban Chicago Saturday.  A day trip. But I didn’t want to go alone–I didn’t want to be alone, and I really didn’t want to drive for five hours, with the upsetting news that my mom’s memory had come completely unglued on Friday fresh on my mind.

So, I wanted him to go with me.  Which meant that all four children would also have to come.  We would have to get up at five in the morning, to drive five hours, so I could spend a few hours with my mom, while Ryan basically remained trapped in the car with all four children (except for his own brief visit to see her while I ate lunch in the car).  And then we would have to drive another five hours home, with increasingly impatient children.

He didn’t blink; didn’t even stop to consider.  He just said we’d go, and helped me get stuff ready so we could leave early the next morning.  Heck, he even (with the help of a friend) hung a new light fixture in our den for me that night.  I really don’t deserve to be treated this well.

I know the Bible instructs husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church, so this shouldn’t surprise me. Ryan was doing his job.  But I don’t know many husbands, even Christian ones, who would be willing to give up their whole Saturday for such a thing, at least not without thinking it over first.

And, really, I shouldn’t be surprised, because after knowing him for so long, I pretty much knew what his response would be before I even asked.  But for some reason, I’m still always surprised when people, even my own husband, go above and beyond the call of duty for me.  I don’t know why that is, but there you have it.  A part of me just doesn’t assume people will do the nice, or even the right, thing.

The children were even extraordinarily patient on the trip.  There was some complaining, but given their ages and the amount of time we had to spend in the car, not nearly as much as there could have been.

And right there is the beauty of family, as God designed it to be.  People coming together when the going gets tough, even the little ones. Much more than I deserve.

Now tohim who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21