Happy Anniversary!!

Today Mom and Dad celebrate 36 years together. As Dad said this morning "glorious years."

As a child you don't always appreciate this. What 10 year old actually wants to see their parents kissing and slow dancing in the kitchen? Certainly not this one. In my 10 year old voice I would have said "eewww.....gross."

But as an adult, you strive for this kind of love.

C.S. Lewis said, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

I have seen no selfishness in my parent's relationship. Oh, I'm not saying they are perfect, for no one is, but their marriage has truly been a partnership. Their lives have not been wrapped up in hobbies but rather wrapped up in service to God and with that comes their love for each other and their family.

Throughout this entire trial Dad has continually quoted 1 John 4:18. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear ... "

Love. The word is so full of mushy sentiment in today's world. A greeting card industry's "most valuable player." But love is not a sentiment. Love is a choice. Love is a requirement for a "peace....which passes all understanding."

How does one get through trials with mush and sentiment? One doesn't.

One gets through trials with love. Real love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
-- Corinthians 13:7-8