25 Years

a la Proverbs 31

Twenty-five years ago today I married my sweetheart, Monocogman. It was a beautiful, sunny day in western Wisconsin. Snow was on the ground and melting into deep muddy pools in the dirt parking lot at the church where we were married.  It was a mess, but a happy one. We were young and foolish then. We didn't ask for anyone's wisdom about marriage or true love. The love we had for each other was probably 95% emotion and only 5% action verb, but we were already wise in our own eyes. You do know that true love is an action verb, don't you, and not a feeling? We didn't know that then. What we did know was that if a man loves God and will obey him, and if the man's wife loves God and will trust him to guide her husband and make a man out of him, this marriage will work. Of course, we didn't know that by experience, but we were about to prove it.

When I moved into his apartment the first thing I did was to make sense out of his kitchen, and thus began the "worses" of our very recently stated vows to each another, "for better or worse". Since then God has given both of us great grace to endure one marital adjustment after another. The toilet seat is no longer an issue. On request, I make the bed right away when I roll out of bed. Dear husband has often been thankful for quick breakfast foods for supper. His neighboring-car-phobia, that resolve to park in the farthest spot from the door at WalMart to avoid dings in the car door, has abated through the years. I have followed him through seventeen mailing address changes. There have been some more serious "worses", but as our marriage vows also included "til death do us part," here we still are.

The "for betters" include the four lovely daughters we share, who are each a combination of our DNA and personalities. Add to the "betters" the joy of seeing some of those daughters come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ! And more "betters": the results of acting on faith, pay increases at jobs, generous gifts from friends and family, love and support from our church family, camp, and fun vacations.

I trust there are more of both 'betters" and "worses" to come, as I look ahead to our girls getting married (better) leaving home (worse) and making us grandparents (better), the growth of our little church and the ministry God gave us (better), as well as the health troubles that inevitably come with age (definitely worse).

This morning I found this beautifully wrapped little package on my pillow, along with a thank you card. How unworthy I am of a ruby ring! It brought tears to my eyes. Monocogman was so excited to have me open it. To this all-things-practical man I have nothing to give in return but my promise to continue to uphold the vows I made on our wedding day -- to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish. Love is a doing word, and it is by doing that we have stayed together.  Praise the Lord for his wonderful grace.  

God was so good to give me this man. I feel so loved and blessed by both of them! :)  

"Til death do us part."  ♥