Day 27 "30 years in 30 days"

I'm going to post this today because I'm pretty sure that I won't have any time to get it in by the 31st of this month.  The 31st is the day after our "30 years in 30 days" celebration.  If you've joined this show late, then you should know that the 30 years is the number of years that we've been married and the 30 days represents 30 different pictorial visions of moments in time along our journey.  On the 31st day we have chosen to renew our vows before God and friends and then throw a party to honor it.  This was all my wife's idea... the "30 days" not the vow renewal/party thing.  It's shaping up to be quite the event, which is fitting because so was the wedding.  Anyway, I'm sitting down this afternoon to imagine what might be contained in my half of the vows and thinking back, not only over 30 years of married life but a total of 47 years of knowing the most incredible person that I've ever encountered.
We have had an incredibly blessed, adventurous and eventful story.  If I could attribute the magic of it to anything specific I would have to pick the passion that she puts into everything that she does.  The key to understanding how my wife views her time on this earth is to experience the moment at a restaurant when one of our servers approaches the table and asks the fateful question "What can I get you?".  Her response is simple yet offers a profound glimpse into her view of life.  Very simply she says "I have a question".  Any who have been with us have experienced it and look forward to it.   A very simple question, but so very key to understanding her.  It means that, regardless of the descriptions on the menus and no matter how detailed the offerings, she is looking for something unique.  She doesn't settle and it reflects her thoughts that all of life is a chance to substitute.  A custom order is only a question away, yet its a question that most never ask. It used to drive me absolutely crazy.  I saw it as a version of high maintenance.  I tend to be a rule follower, black and white, what it says is how it is.  Over the years though I've seen some interesting, admirable, and actually life giving correlations between her ordering habits and her view of life.
First of all, I've discovered that its not high maintenance because if the answer is "no" or "we can't do that" she will settle for the menu.  However, all things equal, she doesn't want to settle, in ordering and in life.  I've seen that the overwhelming majority of the time, not only does she get it "her way" she often draws the servers into her delusional world of how it could in fact be better and, time after time, a bond is formed.  I've also seen her live a life in pursuit of Jesus that doesn't settle.  She prayers passionately and specifically and time after time I am thinking that one doesn't pray that way...it's not ok, and its a bit presumptuous. And then time after time I see her prayers answered in so much detail, just the way she has offered them ... so I have since determined to be more like her. "Come boldly before the throne" takes on a new and very real meaning and I believe that God anticipates and enjoys her "I have a question" interactions with him.  Her prayers fuel our journeys and weave through our stories.
I see a good many couples making it to milestones in their married lives and so many look like they are only halfway through a grueling marathon.  I feel like we are fresh and ready to start a new one ... fueled by questions that keep us from settling.

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