I can't really say what, if any, gifts the Captain feels I give him. However, I can speak to the gifts I receive from him. Yes, there were get-well lilies in my hospital room... the first ones to arrive. And yes, there were a dozen long-stemmed red roses on our anniversary a couple of weeks ago. More than that, there were the intangibles like steadiness in the face of uncertainty while we waited for pathology results, and marathon-like patience to sit in my hospital room with me for hours on end for three days just because I was stuck in there with nowhere to go -- except round and round the nurses' station on my hourly walks.
Most of all, there was the insight one day while reading out loud to me to pass the time. He was reading the book "Return" written by his mission president, Elder Robert D. Hales. In it there is a section regarding faith. Now, unbeknownst to the Captain, I have been having my own personal conversations with God about my faith.. or rather my lack of satisfaction with the condition of it in my own life. Frankly, the whole subject has been troubling me because, try as I might, I couldn't seem to increase mine. I had somewhat decided the trial of my faith was going to be having none... or not enough.
So, there we sat in my hospital room. The Captain's voice quietly read. I quietly listened... more to the lilt of his voice than the words he was quoting. Then my ears perked up. He was talking about faith... or rather, an apostle was talking about faith. What it's for. How to pursue it. How to increase it. The answers to the dilemmas I had been sending ceilingward for the past few months in my personal moments.
Coincidence that the place in his reading when he chose to read out loud to keep me company was addressing exactly the subject of my private struggle lately? I think not. Coincidence that the message came through the Captain to me? I think not... again.
Gifts. Gifts that strengthen. That repair. That bind. That build.
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