Higher

Dear Bethany,

According to the family lore, it was your first word, that year you turned one. Your favorite thing was the swing, and  you would say, "Hawa!"

And ever since then, it's been higher. Whenever we would look for you, we would look up.

Sometimes you'd be swinging.

Sometimes climbing.

Sometimes exploring.

It wasn't as though you ever dreamed of flying...

...it just seemed as though it never occurred to you NOT to fly.

Sometimes we'd look up and see you lighting up a stage.

They'd put you front and center, because you just shine.

It's been such a beautiful privilege to watch you grow into this amazing young woman.

It just makes sense that you've chosen a college with bluffs up above.

Just another place to feel comfortable in your own skin.

Bethany, may you always delight in going "higher",

pursuing God's calling for you as you follow him.

"With this in mind, we constantly pray for you,

that our God may count you worthy of his calling,

and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours

and every act prompted by your faith. 

We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus

may be glorified in you, and you in him,

according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12