Celebrating Us

     Sixteen years ago we said “I do.”  Love drove me down the aisle that day, and love is what keeps this bond strengthened all these years later.  I look back and I can actually see eras in our marriage.  We have had ups and downs, but we have always ridden them along side one another.  I never doubted that we weren’t a perfect fit.  I doubted myself sometimes.  My abilities as a wife or mother, I have always questioned from time to time.  I had to learn what a helpmate was and what that meant for our specific home.  But the longer I walk this road with you, the more sure I know that God picked you for me.

     Many kinds of love reside behind these four walls.  You always seem to give me what I need just in the nick of time and I only hope I have been the same constant in your life.  Forgive me if I have ever seemed dissatisfied.  Sometimes I find myself not really realizing how blessed I am with the life that God has given me.  I am ashamed of that, for every single thing that I hold in my hand is worthy of praise.  Every good thing in the life of a Christian is for the glory of God.  Even the bad things that God uses for good, so even when times were tough, it was for his glory.  It thrills my soul when I think that our union was meant for the glory of God. 
     I never want to take a day with you for granted.  I know I already have.  To focus on our life and bring to the forefront of our minds this gift of our love should be a daily practice.  To know that the strong hand that holds mine, is the hand that God meant for me to clasp brings me a rush of gratitude.  I don’t need you to have a successful career, or that house in the country.  I know you’ll never be able to read my mind or satisfy all of my fleshly desires, and that burden is not yours.  The mention of burden brings to mind that I want yours to be mine.  Please, never hold your troubles back.    My prayer this anniversary is that one day, perhaps fifty years from now, I will still feel your hand holding mine.