No Regrets

For so many years, my husband has worked all but one weekend a month.  He lost his job in October and started a new job in November.  Having him home every single weekend is WONDERFUL.  When he was home only one Saturday a month we tried to cram all of our fun things, family events, and major chores into one day.  It was hard and stressful.  We would find our nerves on edge most of the day.  We would not sleep in or lay around and relax on those Saturday mornings, because we felt the clock ticking down toward the end of our only Saturday.  

This morning, we slept in and cuddled.  During the work week we have to be up at 5:30am and we are in the bed by 9:30pm.  I guess, sleeping in until 8:30am does feel like a late morning when you get 3 hours of extra sleep.  I went downstairs and brought back breakfast and coffee.  We propped up on our pillows and enjoyed breakfast and coffee while chatting about our week.  We talked about the week ahead and just enjoyed our time...not rushed and not stressed.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I had a friend become a widow the week after Christmas.  She is in her mid 30's and her husband was 39.  I have been VERY convicted about my words and actions toward my husband since hearing that news.  I have been made painfully aware of the fact that we are not promised tomorrow and, truthfully, we are not promised the next minute.  I don't want to have regrets in any relationship, but especially in my marriage.  I don't want my husband spending his time at work with a knot in his throat because of me, my attitude, my words, or my actions.  I don't want him waking up with a sense of dread because of me.  I want him to look forward to being around me.  I am blessed to be married to a man who makes certain to appreciate me and to voice that appreciation.  In 20 years with him, I have learned a lot from him about how to treat others.  We talked this morning about how neither of us want regrets if something was to happen to either of us.  We want our marriage to be a joy and not a regret.

I am grateful to have today to spend time with my husband, but I am aware that I need to take time each and every day to bless him, encourage him, and love him.  No regrets....that is my new motto in my marriage.

70 Years

Today I have the pleasure of attending a celebration for a couple that have been married for 70 years.  They are two of the sweetest people I have ever known.  She is soft spoken, humble, and gracious.  I use to be her Sunday school teacher and she made the task so much easier just because of the countenance on her face as I would teach.  She has often talked with me about her love for her dear husband.  It has never failed to encourage me or inspire me.  I have seen her stand over him in ICU when she could hardly stand.  She held his hand and told him how much she loved him.  I have seen him walk her to Sunday school like a school boy who was courting a young lady.  Their marriage is something to celebrate.  They are one of the rare couples in this world that have weathered so much together yet after 70 years they are still in love, still each other's partner, and still friends.  What an encouragement to all that know them!!!

As I think about this I ask myself many questions:  Am I more in love with my husband today than ever?  Does he know by my actions that I love him?  Is he my friend and partner in this crazy world?  Do we work to make our marriage more and more what God wants it to be?If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

~~~I Corinthians 13~~~