Ryan made me feel incredibly loved at 2:00am this morning. Ok, wait... let me rephrase that or at least, expand on the statement. It's not what you think!
I typically go to bed with a nice tall glass of ice water on my night stand, but I was too tired last night to fill my cup, and after some internal debate, I settled on going to bed with it empty. HUGE mistake! Little did I know I was setting myself up for a mini disaster.
Sure enough, I woke up at 2am, feeling like I hadn't had a sip of water for days. In my grogginess, I picked up my glass and headed toward to bathroom sink, but before I could take a step into our bathroom it felt like the glass took on a life of its own and mysteriously jumped out of my hand. Yes, it jumped out of my hand and that's the story I'm sticking too!
Not a second later, I heard the unmistakeable, toe-curling, noise of glass shattering into a million pieces at my feet. Before I could begin to whine, Ryan sits up from a dead sleep and with concern asks, "What happened?!?"
And cue, my whining. "My cup broke..."
He walks over to me, turns on the light, grabs my shoulders and leads me back to the bed before heading out to the garage to get our hand broom. He took charge and in my sleepiness, I totally let him. With out talking he cleans up all the glass and all I can think about is how grateful I am for my husband.
When he's done, I dare not ask for another glass of water, but he brings me one anyway, in a PLASTIC cup I might add! I tell him I'm sorry, and he assures me that everything is OK as he kisses me on my shoulder. It turns out neither of us fell asleep before his 3:20am wake up call. I eventually got to fall back asleep, but he had to head into work.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 comes to mind. It's an oldie but a goodie!
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
Ryan had every reason to be upset, but I never heard a single hint of a you-know-I've-got-to-be-at-work-at-4am attitude, no huffing or stand-offish body language. He was patient. He was kind. He was not self-seeking and definitely not easily angered.
When I saw him as I walked into work this morning, I smiled and
apologized yet again, but he held no record of wrong. In fact, we kind of
laughed about it. He said he reacted the way he did to protect me because he thought I'd sleep walk all over the broken glass. And he's right, I probably would have!
Acts of Service is not my primary love language, but if you know anything about Ryan, you know it's his strongest. During the time we've been together, I've grown accustom to it and it's easier for me to spot when he's speaking it. Last night... errr, this morning rather, was one of those times and I don't think he quite realizes how impacted I was by his actions. Not only was he living out 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, but he was communicating loud and clear that he loved me through his actions. Dealing with a million pieces of glass on a white floor at 2AM is not an easy act of service, but he made it look like a piece of cake.
I saw and felt his love, even in my sleepiness, and a result, I felt so incredibly valued as his wife. I thought I loved him all that I could, but I think I fell a little more in love with this morning. He's pretty great you know?!? He's, like, not just 8-5, M-F great but 24-7 great. So great, I thought it should be noted in the Felten Notebook.
Thank you God, for my man.
