LOVE, LIGHT, and RIDICULOUSNESS always

Love, Light, and Ridiculousness always… what? 

OK, let me explain.

Let's start with…

LOVE

Carson is love.  He always has been and always will be.  Love is something you feel before you can explain it.  If you knew him, you felt loved by him.  You felt seen by him.  You felt heard by him. He was deeply empathic and he always met you where you were.  Its why he was so good at teaching and helping others, because he loved them, truly.  

As a baby, he always brought so much love to all of us just being him.  Babies are just pure love!  He really was that.  In elementary school, he loved to have parties, or I guess I did, lol.  But Carson always wanted to make sure each person was having a good time.  That was always very important to him to make others feel welcomed and at home when he was around.  At just 13 years old, he started helping at a gun range, and he would walk up to people and connect with them, and offer a few suggestions on how to shoot better.  He was also helping as an assistant instructor  for kids learning Jiu Jitsu.  He related to them, and really took the time with them they needed.  

As a family, Carson has always been the part that keeps us connected.  Always making sure everyone is getting along. Making people laugh, giving lots of hugs and just sitting there with you to find out how you were doing.  But this could go on and on!  We’ll keep it for another blog post. 

It comes down to this.  God is LOVE.  Carson reflected LOVE.  LOVE is what makes the world go round.  LOVE.  Love more.  Love hard.  Just make sure to love. Love yourself.  Love others.  Love God. 

LIGHT

Well, light is what we experience when we feel love.  When things feel good.  We see light.

But unfortunately, we all have moments where we live in the darkness.  It consumes some of us more than others.  But we know, there is always light, even in the darkness.  All of us will find that light in different ways.  For me in moments of darkness after Carson’s passing, the light for me is knowing that Carson is now in a place of rest, comfort, and Joy with God in heaven.  That is where I see the light.  I see the hope.  Even in darkness, there is light.  We must always see the light! 

RIDICULOUSNESS

Well this one is kind of a 2 fold answer, but let’s start with the definition first.

Ridiculousness  [ri-dik-yuh-luhs-nis]/ rɪˈdɪk jə ləs nɪs / 

is the state or quality of being wildly unreasonable, illogical, or absurd to the point of being laughable. It refers to something so foolish, extreme, or preposterous that it invites mockery or disbelief.

First, Carson loved to make people laugh. And there’s so much good that comes from laughter. It lightens the heart. It breaks tension. It reminds us that joy can still show up in the middle of normal, hard, awkward, or uncomfortable moments.

Carson loved brightening people’s day. He could be completely absurd in the best way. Funny faces. Weird smirks out of the corner of his eye. Giving you the bird when you least expected it, or when you didn’t even notice until later in a photo. Dancing anytime he could. Making a moment weird just because he could.

That kind of ridiculousness was part of his gift. It wasn’t polished. It wasn’t planned. It was just Carson.

But there’s a second way I want to look at this word.

“Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains.”Proverbs 14:13 NLT

This isn’t about masking grief or pretending everything is okay. It’s not about forcing laughter over pain. It’s about learning to recognize what we’re carrying, finding the right tools to understand it, and not letting grief or darkness speak louder than truth.

Ridiculousness can also mean something illogical, unreasonable, extreme, or so far from the truth that it becomes hard to believe. And the truth is, we all have moments when our mind tells us things we should not believe.

Things like:  You’re alone.  You don’t matter.  No one is listening.  This will never get better.  Everyone would be better off without you.  And those thoughts may feel real in the moment, but that doesn’t mean they are true.

So I want you to keep this word Ridiculousness with you.

When your mind starts telling you something dark, cruel, hopeless, or completely against who God says you are, then I want you to pause and call it what it is.  That thought is ridiculousness.  Not because your pain isn’t real or what you’re carrying isn’t heavy.  

But because the lie is not allowed to become the truth.  Because… You are loved.  You are needed.  You are not a burden.  And you are not meant to fight those thoughts alone.

So yes, ridiculousness reminds me of Carson’s laughter, his silliness, his faces, his dancing, and his ability to make a serious moment suddenly not so serious.

But it also reminds me to challenge the thoughts that try to steal light, truth, and life from us.

So, here is to LOVE, LIGHT, AND RIDICULOUSNESS ALWAYS! 

Because life is about truly living.  Carson truly lived his life, and I know we were all changed by the impact he had in our lives.