Celebrating Thirty Five Years!

     There's no way we've been married for thirty-five years. No.Way.
This is a photo of Steve from our honeymoon. He was twenty-one years old and getting ready to begin his second college career. We were young and we were living in the moment, big on dreams and short on money. It feels very odd to be sitting here in what is now our future, looking back. It is clear to me now that in our youth we were oblivious to so much. We took so much for granted. I saw our future as only bright and never cloudy or gray.
     In the blink an eye, life happened. We have weathered countless heartbreaks and joys together. We have battled and I have raged. We have mourned and we have laughed. We struggled against endless odds and we came to our faith together. Our differing attitudes and temperaments have made it a challenge. In some respects, we have fought to make our marriage work and in other respects, it just evolved. I would like to say that we stood strong together, but sometimes we stood strong apart, each battered by our own struggles to remain standing. But, standing we are!
     In the end, I would say that in order to make a marriage work (from my perspective), you must be selfless. That is number one. Secondly, I attribute our faith to making that selflessness happen. Our Christian faith is what saved our marriage and our family many, many years ago and it opened my eyes to a grander dream of what marriage can be. Two people serving one another does not come naturally in our human condition. We are endlessly challenged by whatever life throws at us. We can't know what is coming and sometimes those challenges are way bigger than us. By keeping our eyes fixed on God, those challenges become a strength. Those challenges also reveal the nature of our relationship with God and His unconditional love for us. Those challenges are blessings.
     Of course, it can't hurt to look at a honeymoon photo of your spouse and remember why you fell in love. Works for me every time.