The driving had to be hard on Mark because there was lots of traffic and it was hard to see so I know he would have rather the sun had been shining or at least that the rain would stop. And I was sitting in the passenger seat with my bare feet propped up in the window, I was trying to hide the fact that the weather and the traffic were making me a bit nervous. But never once did I think, nor did I hear Mark say, "This is just too hard and I think we should just pull off the road and forget about driving any more." No matter how hard the rain fell, or how thick the traffic got, we stayed in the truck just trudging along. A time or two we would see a sign that would warn us of a bump ahead; but the worst bumps came with no warning.
Anyway, as we were driving through the rain and the construction and the rough road, I just got to thinking about marriage in general and our marriage in particular. There have been times in our 35 years of marriage when the rain fell pretty hard. We had struggles. We had trials. We had sons. All of that can put a damper on things. There were times when we knew a bump was coming--a terminally ill parent or transition in parenting roles. But there were many times when we didn't see that particular bump up ahead and it was rough. One of those that bounces you up to hit your head on the ceiling even though you are buckled in. Those bumps that take your breath away. The kind that make you cry even when you are trying not to do so. And, there were some potholes along the way and lots of traffic--especially on those days of us meeting each other in the road. But in those times neither of us said, "This is too hard. I think we should just bail out of this and forget the rest of the journey." We hung in there, together. We prayed. We talked. We worked through things. We stood together when an outside force was the cause of the problem. We repeated in our minds that we didn't promise each other to stay only through the good and healthy. We said we'd stay through the worse and the sickness.
[Let me stop here and say I know there are somethings that you can't get over or through--abuse being the number one of those. I'd never tell somebody they had to stay in an abusive relationship although I know many women who stood firm and trusted God and got to watch Him take that abusive man and save him and make him a wonderful husband and father.]
Back to the thoughts I was having....How easy it would have been to just pull over today and wait out the rain. But we couldn't. We had commitments we had to honor. And it would have been easy many days to pack up and walk out. But we didn't. We had commitments we had to honor. We had made a 3 way covenant between each of us and God. We made vows. More than a contract----a covenant.
So here we are. 35 years later. 35 exciting, interesting, sometimes hard years. We have grown so much in these 35 years. We've learned a LOT in these 35 years. Would I do it all again? For sure!! (Have you seen my beautiful grandchildren!?!) Would I like to have 35 more? I will take every year that God has in store for us! There may be more bumps along the way. But together, the 3 of us can continue to abide as one. Happy Anniversary to us. Thank you, Lord, for never leaving us on our own!
Genesis 2:24 - "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
Ecclesiastes 4:12 "... a threefold cord is not quickly broken."
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