KIND EYES

In honor of a decade of brilliant leadership as NVC College President and nearly fifty years in the service of educating and edifying lives.

I knew I wanted to marry a man that would seek me out in a crowd, whose eyes would land on me and I would sense his gaze without seeing him, then imagine escaping the conversations to quietly dance in his arms. That man is, has always been, Ron Kraft.

Jordon Peterson says, “A good man is a very, very dangerous man who has that under voluntary control.” I gasped when I first read this. You should too. At least if you’re even a little bit engaged in what’s happening in the world.

Composure. If you asked me, I would tell you it is the rare ability to gather and keep oneself in every circumstance. To harness even a tiny portion of its infinite power, you must recognize the gravity of Divine Purpose and hold it frequently, as an offering, to the light.

I can define Composure without reference because I have seen it right up close…over decades of watching ron pour the whole of his person out. I could challenge thousands he has led and encountered to recall or recapture even one harsh or misplaced word. They would be hard-pressed.

Even I, in the forty years I’ve shared intimate space with him, can only count a handful of times when his body, mind, and spirit weren’t completely aligned…and only then when I’ve pushed him unbearably to the end of himself, which is nearly impossible to find.

He is a builder—a builder of homes [23 to be exact], a builder of dreams and futures that thrive in the soil of hope personified. He is that relentless embodiment of belief, demonstrating to his three sons that anything can be done. A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

What we pour into others begins with the power of our words. Ron's are rarely disagreeable, even faulting to understanding when others lose their grip. In every deeper conversation or in-passing exchange, his is an unusual awareness that what is said—what is implanted in others—takes root within the soul:

To him, there is no such thing as an insignificant encounter.

With that said, the part about “suffering fools,” must come next…

If you seek relationship with HIm the mandate is authenticity:

The keeper in him relentlessly stands guard, allowing only those with noble intention to get in.

He is a hopeless romantic and can become disappointed with this mixed up, maddening planet—

Despite what spins around him, there is this light-hearted easy-ness that steadies within—

Like the stories he writes, his own innate character is revealed not in bursts of intensity but over intricately nuanced chapters stretched out through the seasons of a life. To him, time is relative and unhurried, years folding and unfolding in singular scripted moments, detailed and held like a brush in Rembrandt’s hand.

During one of our frequent discussions about how the “what next” looks for us, I managed to put words to the vulnerability I’ve been feeling as we’ve navigated overwhelming heaping spoonfuls of transition in our own little microcosm, while swallowing it down with an earthly overdose of crazy pills.

“I need both Protector and Provider in equal doses” I eked out through wistful tears.

I, the recently bald princess warrior, am mindful of the freshness of unchartered territory and unanticipated fears.

For as long as I’ve been a woman, this man has been my provision in every scenario of my world. Provider of love. Provider of encouragement. Provider of stability [both emotional and physical] in a climate where everything opposite exists.

I look at those kind eyes [I mean, look at those kind eyes!] and see the “good man” that Jordan Peterson describes—the man of patience and perseverance in his personal and professional worlds.

But I will tell you now, not as a warning but more as a badge of honor or battle cry—do not mistake his kindness for weakness for you will surely miss the point of him…the gift of him…entirely.

Like King David, this man is never-yielding poetry in motion, steady in his consideration of the right move, then exacting like a sharpened sword in his intelligence and resolve.

I, being just a little bit more “spirited” have egged him on amid particularly rough battle-ground scenarios once or twice. Still, he hesitates, not from lack of clarity, but in calculation that sees in an instant the far-reaching consequence.  

For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands.I have not sinned against you, though you hunt me down

— King David

That long view is where you’ll find this man. Not in shallow conversations or staccato quips and jabs.  See the lines around those eyes? They tell a deeper story. One of constancy and honor, loyalty and a persistence that is breathtaking to observe.

His dear friend and Pastor, Dan Reiland, says this about who Ron is—"You have come to this point with grace and style. You have lived and lead well and will continue. There is so much adventure in how you and Janene have done life together, and now you add the intrinsic beauty of no longer having something to prove, but instead, only to give of yourselves to others. This is your season of legacy. You are a force to be reckoned with."

My love, continue to fix your eyes on the King, the One who never treads in the land of trivial but puts meaning in every step.

Dust off your sandals, my husband. There is new territory ahead.

I’m right beside you, as I have always been.