My husband and I have been married for forty years. Many who see us comment on what a great Love Story we are.
They want to know the secret of our happy marriage. I will share it with you. We are not always happy.
Please read this blog post all the way through to get the “secret.”
Sometimes we are a resounding gong.
Sometimes we are a clanging cymbal.
Sometimes we think we are pretty smart and we have faith for everyone and everything else but us.
Sometimes we will go to any lengths to do good deeds for others, but we neglect to give even little kindnesses to each other.
Sometimes we are not patient.
Sometimes we are not kind.
Sometimes we envy. We want the kind of relationship we think others have.
We boast about what hot stuff we are and wonder why the other isn’t fully aware of what a great deal they got in us. We are proud and arrogant.
We don’t always honor each other. We tolerate each other. And when we can’t master tolerance, we yell at each other. We slam doors.
Frequently we want our own way.
And when we don’t get our own way, we get mad.
We forgive, but we seldom forget. When we do something that crosses the line in a way that is similar to sins of the past, you better believe we bring it up. We have a book of past screw ups to which we can refer in a minute.
We always think our truth is The Truth. We highly value our truth and will do anything possible to make sure the other understands the truth.
We usually protect our own turf and if the other is on the right side, we will protect them too.
Even though there have been a million reasons to trust each other, we don’t. We are sometimes suspicious of each other’s motives. We are not sure we have each other’s backs.
We sometimes lose hope for us. We think we had a good run, but maybe it is time to call it quits. There are too few years left to keep investing in a lost cause.
BUT … when we come to the end of ourselves, we find The Author of Love … The One Who created both of us for each other.
We find God, The One Who brought us together and molded and fashioned us into one with Him.
We find God Who made our hearts beat as one. And when that heartbeat becomes a little irregular or is on the verge of breaking, He steadies us.
He comforts us. When we whine that the other hurt us, He reminds us of Jesus’ Words to those who hurt Him.
God tells us to forgive, not because we want to, not because we deserve it, but because He said to.
God then forgives us and tells us, “Let’s go over this one more time. This is what Love looks like.”
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
“If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
“Love is patient.
“Love is kind.
“It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
“It does not dishonor others.
“It is not self-seeking.
“It is not easily angered.
“It keeps no record of wrongs.
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
“It always protects.
“It always trusts.
“It always hopes, always perseveres.
“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
“For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
“Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
“But the greatest of these is Love.”
1 Corinthians 13
And so we repent before God. We ask His Forgiveness.
We ask each other’s forgiveness.
We act in obedience to God. We love because He said to. We love even when we don’t feel it at first. We try again.
We trust God. We have faith in Him to do all He has promised to do through us. We know He has a Plan for each of us, but also a Plan for us.
We claim the US in JEsUS.
We hope in Him.
We love Him.
We receive His Love for us.
And His Love fills up all the empty places and we love each other.
And one year follows another, each one divinely bonding us more and more into Love. It is a good Love, a solid Love because it is rooted in The Ultimate Love.
