I Did Something Right

Thirty-five years ago I stepped up and took a chance. I walked forward and said, “I do.” As you can see from the photo, I was really young. I had no perspective about such things as marriage except a naïve and innocent love of the incredibly cheerful, happy, and beautiful young blond lady standing next to me. I married Helen. She took my hand and joined my life in college, then on a farm, then in a small house in a strange town. She never complained and she always remained at my side. We had children together and we raised them. Now we are a couple again.

We learned something along the way. In Ephesians Paul says to men, “Husband love your wives as Christ loves the church”. The “love your wives” part in the Greek means to continually, daily, express your love to your wife. I learned that wives need the daily expression of love. Husbands don’t need that so much. But wives remain faithful and committed to their husbands when husbands express, show, demonstrate, spell out, hint, or just tell their wives they love them – daily.

A few verses later, Paul tells the wives to respect their husbands. Husband don’t need words of love as much as they need words of respect. Men need to conquer the world. But they need someone to conquer it for. A guy can get up and face the opposition every day if his wife believes in him. It doesn’t matter if his boss, his competition, his coworkers, or his customers don’t believe in him. If his wife believes in him, and expresses it daily, then he can do anything.

So here’s to my bride of 35 years. She believes in me! And I love her!