On Miles's Birthday

Lord, the mind reels. 

The heart swells.

How is it even possible that my first grandchild, my oldest grandson, this young man after my own heart, Miles Jacob Hostetler, turns seventeen today?

Thank you for all you have made him to be:

healthy, strong, charming, sweet, sensitive, smart, wonderful.

Thank you for all you have given him:

caring, wise, attentive, loving parents,

a sister who loves him and even says so,

a family that loves to be around him and spend time with him,

an active and brilliant mind,

a fascination with bugs and beasts and birds,

and a warm home, good school, and lovely church.

Thank you that he's so great as to make missing him so hard.

Thank you that he's growing so fast and learning so much 

as to make me insanely jealous of those who get to watch it happen day by day and week by week.

Thank you that for the earliest years of his life I got to see him so often, almost daily at times.

And thank you that even with the physical distance between us, we still enjoy a closeness that brings tears to my eyes. 

Please bless him mightily on his birthday, and on every day that follows it.

Please shine on him, smile on him, and slather him with your favor.

Please preserve his sweetness even as he grows up.

Please give him a great summer this year, and a blessed rest-of-the-year.

Please grant that he may grow in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Give him backbone, confidence, solidity, centeredness, and a feeling of comfort in his own skin.

Please draw him and keep him close to you, 

grant his every need 

and make even his biggest, boldest dreams come true, 

in Jesus' name, amen.