“‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”   -Matthew 19:5-6

In a few days, my wife, Alana and I will celebrate the day last year when we stood  before God and a community of believers and promised to be husband and wife until “death do us part.”  Now that I think about it, it was not last year at all, but it was 50 years ago, 1963!  It only seems like a short time.

Seriously, what does it take to make it to 50 years?  And when I answer that question, for us, I know it took a miracle of God’s grace.  For there could hardly have been two people more different.  Alana has said that hardly a day passed that we didn’t disagree about something.  And sometimes those disagreements have, “to put it mildly,” been painful.   We have faced life and death together, joys and sorrows, health and sickness.  There has been conflict.  Oh, how there has been conflict.  As I said to her not long ago, “we sometimes drive each other crazy.”  You get the point.

What there has never been, for either of us, is doubt that we love and are committed to each other “til death do us part.”  We know and understand that both of us are imperfect people and that forgiveness is at the heart of any close human relationship (also between God and any person).

To put it in perspective and so you understand; I wish we could have 50 more years.  I love you, Alana.  Thank you for what you have given and are giving to me.  And thank you, Lord for making it possible.

Filed under: The Journey |