About a month ago we met an elderly man at a grocery store and as he was checking out, he told us that he has been married for 46 years to the same woman and that he loved her more now than when they got married!! Now, that is what I call enduring love. This is the love that is not dependent on physical attributes because I am sure that woman does not quite look like she did 46 years ago! This love must have endured some things together – maybe tragedies, maybe sorrows, maybe even pain! Their love has been time-tested and come out strong! I wish I could meet that old man again and ask him to tell me the story of their love – the joys and the pain and why he is even more in love now than then. The magic formula for enduring love must be in there somewhere… maybe hidden in between the good times and the bad, the challenges of life, the mundaness of life or maybe just the sharing of simple everyday things in life. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, that old man and his wife are just 4 years shy of joining the 5% of the marriages that make it to the 50th anniversary. I have no doubt that they will make it to that milestone.
That same week I saw another old couple - they must have been in their late 70’s or early 80’s. I was a little behind them on a long line waiting to buy food. They were both quite short (though you could tell that they might have been taller and stronger before – maybe osteoporosis had had its toll). The old man wanted to go straight to the counter (and nobody would have minded them going ahead as they looked too old to be standing in line) however, the wife held him back and they continued slowly in the line. The thing that hit me most was that they were talking, laughing and having a good time! I could not hear what they were saying but obviously they enjoyed each other’s company even in their old age! I wondered what their story was and what their secret was. The secret to this enduring love that defies time and statistics. Couples like these make me believe that there is hope for enduring love when all the statistics point to doom and gloom over marriages. There is such a thing as a forever marriage!
So on that profound note, I want to take this opportunity to wish Kim and your wife Mugure a Happy 10th Wedding Anniversary (coming up on Friday the 25th of July). Congratulations to both of you for getting to that milestone. You have made it to the 65% of married couples that reach their 10th anniversary (U.S. Census Bureau). Happy Diamond Anniversary to you! My prayer for you is that should Christ tarry, you will go on to celebrate your next diamond anniversary which will be your 60th anniversary! And like the old man, I pray that your love will grow deeper and better as the years go by so that you too may say that you love each other more than when you first got married! May yours be a forever marriage.
Hongera!
A recent investigation shows that 60% of young women are in favor of the engagement ceremony. The engagement rings and the roses are both “very romantic” and most important, it becomes a transitional period for the two to know each other more deeply.
