The big four O

My wife and I celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary yesterday. Most people say that anniversaries and birthdays with zeros in them are the ones that are the most important, but we really didn’t do anything special to celebrate. As always I started my day with Bible study around 3 a.m. When Teresa got up we had coffee together and when I let my little dog outside, my furry slippers were not enough to avoid frostbite on my toes. (Well maybe a slight exaggeration, but almost!) It was freezing cold and the wind was howling outside and like the sinners that we are, we decided not to try and visit another church in our continuing search for a church home in our area in that kind of weather.

We mostly puttered around in our new house trying to get some more of our stuff moved in and organized, and then watched the Atlanta Falcons demolish the Carolina Panthers We did have something special for dinner; instead of hamburgers and chili, we had chili and hamburgers. Our perfect special day was topped off by her going online to order another tractor trailer load of toys for our grandkids while I read a book on the couch. My eyes began to glaze over and I barely made it to my bed where I promptly fell sound asleep and no doubt loudly began snoring at the top of my lungs.

So what is the secret of having a long happy marriage like ours? Obviously sending a dozen reds, escaping to a tropical getaway, arranging romantic dinners for two, and dangling expensive shiny diamond necklaces around her neck on those very special days was not the answer for us.

Some of Teresa’s women’s “lipper” friends think I’m an insensitive boor, and chauvinistic pig and that she deserves better and tell her so; often in front of me. They think it is totally outrageous that I’m so thoughtless. They also think it is absurd that I don’t pitch in and wash dishes, clean house, or cook; “After all Teresa has to work too”, they whine.

I think to myself, Hmmm I distinctly remember Teresa telling me that each one of them is divorced?

The devil won’t let it rest and I am quick to loudly protest, “That’s woman’s work”. I do this because I love to see them begin to stutter, slobber, and then watch their faces turn beet red and the veins protrude from their necks as my provocation reverberates through their nervous systems penetrating to their bone marrow just prior to sending them into convulsive stammering fits.

So what is the secret to a long successful marriage? It took me a while to understand, but God states that our spouse is actually a blessing that comes directly from Him. We should treat our marriages as a blessing from God almighty – Creator of all. If one looks at it like that, we will realize that it is really something that is not only special, but SACRED.

Marriage is no different than many things in life including being a Christian, if you want to succeed, you have to approach it with a great attitude, be prepared to work hard at it, and persevere when the trials and tribulations come.

I think it also helps to have a sense of humor. Some say mine is perverted, but I say to them: “At least I have one”. Some people take themselves entirely too seriously. Often these same people look for every tiny fault in an insensitive chauvinistic pig boor like me, but fail to realize that they too have faults; (keep in mind that even “lippers” are human They may appear and act as though they are subhuman, but without question they are indeed human and thus are flawed and fallen just like the rest of us).

I tell Teresa I love her most every day and she does likewise to me. We are one on that important accord. The Bible says we should love our wives as Christ loved the church.

Hmmm We especially need to keep that one in mind realizing that He willingly gave His life for the church.

Teresa and I are best friends too, but candidly she often annoys the heck out of me with her quirks. Okay, okay I’m sure that I drive her crazy sometimes with mine too, but the important thing is that we overlook them because we both realize that neither of us is perfect.

More marriages would not only survive but thrive if people caught on to this realization. Heck if the world would catch on to it, we would never have another war.

1 Cor. 11:11
“Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as the woman was from the man, even so the man also is through the woman; but all things are from God”