Twenty five years ago today I was home from Alabama for the holidays. Our family was getting ready for a holiday party and everyone had their assignment to get the house ready for the party. I was dusting. John and I had been dating for a year.
If there is love at first sight ours was pretty close to that. He would leave work in Huntsville and make the drive to Tuscaloosa just to have dinner with me. Drive home and sleep for a few hours before going to work again. He did that for months before deciding maybe he should get his Masters :)
The picture above is a gift that began about two weeks after our first date. He gave me the bracelet with the first slide being my birth stone. He continued to fill it for each holiday of our first year together. (He comes across as not very romantic - but don’t let that fool you!) As I look at it today I love it even more.
Back to December 23, John came to our house to help get ready. Around 8:00 he asked if I wanted to go get some frozen yogurt. As we drove into town, he said he wanted to run by his house. His family had a tradition of letting you pick a gift to open on the 23rd.
So, he handed me a little gift to open. As I opened it I realized it was a beautiful little box. Inside the box was the prettiest ring I had ever seen. He then told me about an old couple who started their life with an empty box and as they lived life together they filled up their box with memories. Memories that money can’t buy and no one could ever take away. He asked if my first memory for the box could be me saying “YES” to be his wife.
Well- that didn’t take much thinking and I gladly agreed to be his wife.
Twenty five years ago I can assure you I had no idea what it meant to be a wife. I could barely appreciate much past the gorgeous white dress I had dreamt of.
But, looking back here are things I have learned:
- A marriage is a picture of grace. Two sinners. Who learn to forgive as they remember their own sin is great.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 3:23 ESV
- A marriage is a picture of love. He gives us the recipe for a patient and kind love. Some days it isn’t easy to see, or even feel, but it is there.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant”
1 Corinthians 13:4
- A marriage is most happy when you approach it selflessly. This one took me years to grasp. But, when I realized my marriage would be at its best when I thought more about him (and Him) than I thought about me, the Lord blessed us.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Genesis 2:24 ESV
- A marriage is to be guarded. The devil loves to destroy a Christian marriage. He loves to find ways to destroy our bond. I pray daily for the Lord to protect and keep our family. This verse ended our wedding and it is always meaningful to me when I hear it.
“So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."”
Matthew 19:6 ESV
So, today I celebrate the memory box that was opened twenty five years ago. The good times and the not so good times that have filled that box. That young boy and young girl who committed their marriage to the Lord. I am thankful for how we’ve grown and thankful that the Lord has been with us each of those days.
“In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Proverbs 3:6 ESV
