Maybe it’s been hard to see, but his heart has always been to support you, to bless you, to learn from you.

Four years ago, when there was that big project, and he volunteered dozens of hours, gladly?  He was happy to help, to be a servant, to lighten your load – if only in some small way.

Two winters ago, when there was a big snowstorm and he saw on the way home from church that your driveway still had snow piles, while you weren’t home, he went and cleared the snow away for you.  He never said anything…he wasn’t looking for recognition, he just wanted to bless you.

Those two years that he helped coach, he’d had no intention of coaching.  He said yes only because you asked him.  He said yes only because you asked him.

The handful of times he has made a point of offering encouragement or saying good job?  I know that to a person for whom such words are almost second nature it may not seem like much, but trust me when I tell you that more sincere and heartfelt words have never been spoken, and the conscious effort those words required came from an earnest desire to lift you up.

The times he readily offered up tools, I know it seemed like it was easy.  I know it seems like giving is just one of his spiritual gifts.  But I don’t think I need to offer much explanation to you when I say that he is a rather particular person about many things, and that is true for his tools as much as it is for anything else.  Holding loosely to things is an exercise in sacrificial living for him and has always come as a response to purposely making a person a priority over the inclinations of his human nature.  Some times, and with some people, it’s harder than with others.  For you, though, I think he would have given his right arm if you asked.

The times he’s apologized, and asked for your insight, it was never done lightly.  Maybe it wasn’t as immediate as you had hoped, but neither was it flippant or insincere.  In those moments he genuinely wanted you to speak into his life, to help him see what you saw, that he might grow to be a better support, a better servant, a more godly man.

He’s far from perfect, I know.  Everybody is.  But I also know that he has only ever wanted to be for your good.