MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY

Anniversaries are by nature very sentimental occasions. Yesterday was the 47th anniversary of our wedding day. A good friend offered some good advice. He said, "Don't look forward to the 50th so much that you miss the joy of today."

Isn't that just so right! We tend to plan for projected events, and sometimes in anticipation of the exceptional, sweep the ordinary right under the rug - under-appreciated. There is nothing ordinary about our everyday blessings. Indeed, "count your blessings" is an impossible task for our blessings are infinite.

DH often remarks that he is the most blessed man in the world. As his wife, that must make me the most blessed woman in the world. Besides the children and grandchildren he considers high on the list when he makes that statement, I have him. In truth, how blessed we have been.

I am very sentimental about wedding memories, but not wedding details. It is the scope of life, feelings that draw me back - our young love and new beginnings. What an exciting time of life! Followed by young parenthood, watching children grow (a wondrous process), seeing them off to lives of their own, opening arms to their mates and their children. And now embracing grandchildren as they begin, as we began 47 years ago.

I said elsewhere, "I think this marriage thing is working out really well." How thankful am I for the Lord's design; what a blessing. The wisdom of that design becomes clearer with time. I could not love him this much in less than 47 years. We could not know the joy of enduring together, without the passing of time together. It might not have been so...we might have lost sight of our commitment and goal (millions do, and we're yet humans upon this plane; the vicissitudes of life plague all of us).Our life could run a very different course, prompted by different choices or circumstances beyond our control.

But, God is gracious. Point in fact, DH's first heart attack, twenty years ago and subsequent close calls have not yet deprived us of more time together. Our love and appreciation for each other has deepened immeasurably throughout the gift of that time. I hope that it is not just sentimentality, but also reverent gratitude to the Great God who gave me this good man...and every blessing that comes to us in our time together.

Together ... for the better...on our way to heaven. Such was our ambition 47 years ago. How precious to know the joy of all those yesterdays, the goodness of this day ... and the hope for tomorrow.