When we made those vows, marriage seemed like granite. We were Christians after all. The "D-word" would not be spoken in our home (it still is not). With Christ as head, ours would be an invincible relationship.
As we have approached this wondrous milestone, our hearts have grieved as many have just stopped and gotten out of the car. Many have, in tragedy, been taken from the car. That relationship we had assumed was as steady as bedrock has begun to appear delicate and fragile.
On this day, I consider myself a richly blessed man. Am I the most richly blessed? One cannot make such a comparison. I am only me. I know only me, and what I know is the wonder of spending twenty-five years with a woman who loves me. For those of you who know me, too, you understand what a wonder that is!
I shared a quote on Facebook a few weeks back, a quote by C.S. Lewis in which he highlighted the importance of right priority. He said,
When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are... put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.Second things are not supressed but increased. I have seen love played out in my life by a woman who loves her man because she loves her Lord. She would tell you that she loves her man, too, but as her man looks in the mirror and sees himself for what he believes himself to be, he knows that it takes a supernatural commitment to Someone else for such a woman to love him so completely. Because she loves her Lord first and foremost, the love she lavishes upon her husband is otherworldly.
Her heightened awareness of marriage's fragility has thrust my bride deeper into the arms of her Savior. She knows as I leave for work in the morning that my afternoon return is not guaranteed. She leans on her Christ. And an interesting thing has happened. Over the years, her greater dependency upon Jesus has not caused her to withdraw in our relationship. On the contrary, she gives with such a wreckless love that it makes my head swim.
And I have seen another amazing thing. As she has soaked me head to toe in her love, how can I do anything but love such a one in return? Truly God has manifest his love to mankind most visibly through the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, but Solomon was oh, so right when he declared,
He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.
I, through no merit of my own, have received God's favor in the woman he has given me with which to walk my days on this earth. God has blessed me with a restored relationship with him through Christ. Surely that would have been enough, but no, he has given me a woman I never could have imagined to be my friend, to be my lover, to be my confidant, to be my wife.
With no hint of guile, there is no other person on this planet with whom I would rather share five minutes, five hours, five years or five decades than my wife. And if I could preserve her forever as the person I married or the person she is now, I would take right now a thousand times over only because I did not offer myself the choice of the person she will be in twenty-five years should God give us that long.
Should God take her from me tomorrow, I will weep with joy for every moment he allowed me to share with one so rich in beauty. I will praise his name for the wonder of his image I have been blessed to see in one so dear to me. I will hope and pray that I will learn from the example of a woman so fine how well to love those around me. A good thing? Indeed. Favor? Oh, my!
If you've been thinking of getting out of the car, don't. You'll not find a finer vehicle nor a better partner with which to enjoy God's journey. How do I know? Because he has said so. And because I have lived it.
Twenty-five years. Thank you, Lord. Would you see fit to give us another twenty-five, please, should you tarry?
Thank you, Tracy.
Your man until my last breath,
keith
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NOTE: Imagine the laughter in our home this morning as my bride and I awoke to find the other not only had blogged about this special day but they also 1) posted it at the same time (12:01 a.m.) and 2) used many of the same words and ideas to describe our union. You can find her post here if you haven't OD'ed on treacley sweetness yet.
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