39 years of wedded bliss…well, almost

I would never claim that every day or every year of our marriage has been blissful. We have had powerful arguments, slammed doors (house and car), and thrown regretful words…including the word divorce.

“Love the Lord God with all your heart and mind and strength…” 

Matthew 22:37

“Love one another as I have loved you…” John 13:34

“God is love…” 1 John 4:8

“God so loved us, we ought to love one another” 1 John 4:11

“Love is…Love never fails…” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Let me just say, the secret to a long-lasting marriage is LOVE…

God’s kind of love!!!

Without our individual commitment to the first and greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength,” we could not have given the love instructed by the “Love Chapter” (1 Corinthians 13). We needed God’s love within us in order to give that kind of love to one another for 39 years.

HE is Love. HIS Love never fails.

Humanly—on our own, in our own power—our marriage would have failed and fallen apart—and almost did once or twice or maybe three times along the way. Instead, God interceded with His unfailing love by bringing stronger Christians into your lives, by reminding us through our children, and by tragedy around us. Circumstances, which distracted us from our selfish desires, brought us back to needing one another. I still stand in awe of those interventions…and the results.

“We love, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Without His loving us, we could not have sustained the love for 39 years of marriage. The more each of us knows, loves, and trusts the Sovereign God of Love, the more love we have to give one another.

I love this man more today than yesterday,

and half as much as tomorrow

I look forward to the trails 

and adventures ahead,

even when we trade 

our hiking sticks in for walkers,

and our motorcycle in for wheelchairs

 The command to “Love one another” is found in: John 13:34-35; 15:12, 17; Romans 12:10; 13:8; Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 4:9; 5:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; Hebrews 10:24; 1 Peter 4:8; 5:14; 1 John 2:7; 3:23; 4:11-12; 2 John 1:5-6

Our song... "Just You and Me" by Chicago, 1973