Love Unstained – The Gift of Parker

He is 28 pounds and four and a half years old. He has blond hair, blue eyes and an extra chromosome.

And he is love unstained.

A month ago, I finally got to meet Parker in person. His mother Tammy is my friend and, until recently, was our long time Managing Editor at our site, 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

I walked in the door and Tammy signed to Parker that I was a “friend.” Parker’s eyes danced and he reached out for me.

  photo by Marcel Walker

With his hands tangled in my hair, he laughed and squealed and hugged me for the next hour.

We played and I took photos of his sweetness and I thanked God again and again for him, all the while wishing every person in the world could be given the chance to know a miracle like Parker.

Parker’s health problems are catastrophic. His Down Syndrome was accompanied with life threatening complications such as chronic lung disease, imperforate anus, tethered spinal cord, and severe pulmonary hypertension. He is on 24 hour oxygen and has rarely experienced the world outside of his home or a hospital room.

But he is here to bless us – he is here to show us what love was intended to be. There is no evil in Parker’s love. Looking into his eyes is like seeing innocence.

Parker is like a taste of what happens when the love God puts in each of us is untouched by the sin of the world, how beautiful that love was created to be.

Yes, Parker’s body is a part of the fallen world. It is painfully tethered to this dying place. But his spirit isn’t. His innocence won’t be stolen the way it is for the rest of us.

I wish I could spare Parker the physical suffering he endures. I wish he could run and play with other children. I wish he would never get sick again.

But I don’t wish away his Down Syndrome. It is his gift to all of us.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails... And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 1:4-8a, 13
 
  photo and text by Janice Croze