The first thing that popped up for me was a verse from the bible. Ironically, it was not on a page noted for being "religious", more so for being holistic medicine. I feel I was meant to see it, because this particular page hadn't been showing up for me lately... you know algorithms and such.
It was 2 Timothy 4:3. "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching. But having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. And will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." Those words were written around 2000 years ago, give or take a couple of hundred. Yet reading them this morning it was as if it was describing our world today. Are we living in that coming time?
One of the pastors that I listen to almost daily often says the Bible is a living document and the reason we should spend time reading it is because of the revelation knowledge that will come to us. She says that we can read a verse many times and then one day that verse will make complete sense.
Our pastor that renewed our vows for us last night often says the same thing basically. And even last night as he shared 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and it's deeper meaning with us. I felt the same resonance. So many fail to realize the deeper meaning and to steal his words use it as a Hallmark card moment. It isn't a Hallmark card, it is the deeper love that can only come when you invite Jesus into each moment.
The words are living. The words are there.
This morning as Hubs and I sat and enjoyed our coffee and puppies in our normal morning routine we talked about how special our renewal ceremony was to both of us. In truth, I did not feel strongly one way or the other about the renewal. I'd promised to love, honor and cherish him 20 years before, I didn't realize the impact renewing the action would have on my heart.
This morning, I am very thankful that it was the one thing Hubs truly wanted to do. How many of us married folk flippantly say "of course I'd marry you again" and of course you truly mean it. But do you realize the power of it? I can't say that I really did.
It was only 30 minutes total of our life, nothing much really, if you look at it like that. But standing there in the stillness of the darkened sanctuary, with just us and our pastors surrounded by the love and blessing of our heavenly father... it was so powerful, so affirming, so renewing. There aren't really words to encompass it, the description fails me.
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| that smile though! |
I know I had tears running down my cheeks as we shared our hearts, prayed for the strength and love in our marriage and that of others, we both giggled a bit when our pastor reminded us to answer in the affirmative (if not it was going to get really weird to quote PK), Hubs later shared that his knees were shaking a bit through the ceremony, and through it all we felt blessed.
We finished the day enjoying a wonderful dinner at one of Hubs' favorite restaurants with the girl and her precious daughters, so perfect since she was unable to be at our first wedding. She believes, as do we, that time spent with family is far more important than any gifts that can be given.
Today officially starts the first full day of our next 20 years, and Hubs is already making plans for our next renewal.
Marriage takes work.
Hubs and I were talking about that this morning. It isn't so much work like manual labor, but for some I guess it could be. As I was caring for the garden this morning after he left for work, it occurred to me that caring for a marriage is a lot like caring for my garden.
You have to constantly evaluate things, prune away and discard diseased or damaged branches. Those simply suck the life out of the plant and it will cease to be fruitful. If either of you have inadvertently hurt or damaged the marriage, it needs to be dealt with then tossed in the compost pile. It doesn't mean it wasn't there, it simply means that it doesn't need to stay there forever and rot the entire thing. Besides once it is addressed and tossed in the compost pile, several things happen the compost pile decomposes it and it becomes a rich nutrient filled soil so that the garden can continue to thrive for years to come. And the plant heals, grows stronger because the damage has been removed, it thrives and is more fruitful than ever.
You also have to weed it, removing things that do not belong. I pulled the start of a small tree out of the middle of pepper plant this morning. It was deeply buried beneath the foliage and if I hadn't been harvesting I would have missed it. As it was it was already about 3 inches tall. If I had left it, it would have eventually killed the pepper plant. I might have had a tree of some kind, but I am growing peppers. A marriage isn't really all that different. There are things that pop up, that aren't exactly bad on their own, and in the correct environment, but they sure don't belong in the middle of your marriage. Well, let me amend that... Jesus belongs in the middle, just like the frame that holds up those heavily laden fruit filled branches.
It takes commitment. Every morning I water my garden, unless it's raining and then I take time to thank God for the extra hand in the garden. How often do we not take time to water our marriages daily. My sweet Hubs has been making my coffee every morning for over twenty years, well he's missed maybe .01% of the days... shoot probably less than that. I told him when we were first dating that the Bible says men should make the coffee (Hebrews - duh - oh yeah I'm a brat), he definitely took it to heart. It's probably the littlest thing in the world, but to me it screams I love you.
If I fail to nourish the garden it ceases to produce and goes into full blown survival mode. Wilting, yellowing, dying. I grow my garden in planters, the only nutrients they get come from me. When I get wrapped up in other things I sometimes forget to feed them and I quickly notice. A marriage or relationship of any kind is the same way. We are all kind of like pots, if we aren't given external nourishment, we falter and fail.
It also means a lot less of self. How many times are we tempted to put our own lives, desires, hobbies, goals etc ahead of our husbands or wives? All of us fall to that, again we are human after all. Sometimes that movie, sewing project, work project gets us all wrapped up, we lose track of time, we fail to do what we promised. Not out of meanness or neglect, we don't intend to ignore, but sometimes we do. It takes work to return our focus to where it needs to be. If I ignore my garden and fail to give it the proper attention, it rapidly becomes out of control, weed filled and in this heat wilted and dying. Time has to be made to take care of it.
Our marriage isn't perfect, we are imperfect human beings. Sometimes we fail one another. Sometimes we cause pain, even when we don't mean to. Both of us pray over the other and we have always invited God into the middle of everything, even when we might not have admitted it to each other.
I'm thankful for our life. I cherish our love. Over two decades ago God led me to my dear sweet Hubs, I am going to continue to lean into God to continue to be the best wife and life partner that I can be. I'm looking forward to the rest of this incredible story.
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| a kiss to build a dream on... |
I guess I never bounced back to 2 Timothy... somehow I got lost in remembering the beauty of yesterday. It's definitely a verse that I am going to be spending more time exploring and striving to "learn" from.
For now... I am going to wrap this one up and get ready to go to the dentist... ugghhh....
love and prayers... b
Good one! 381+
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