Fail

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Saturday, September 25, 2010

Success - and boy what a success!!!!

Last Tuesday (September 21, 2010), Dave & I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary! I'm ashamed to admit that we both had fallen away and taken each other for granted. Our marriage while looking good to most people around us, was as steady as a 102-year-old woman with a broken hip standing on a shaky stepladder. For several months, I'd been trying to figure out how to make things better. Dave seemed to be find with things the way they were, but I wasn't.

On our anniversary, Dave took me out, spent time with me, and told me he realized he's been taking me for granted. He told me God had suddenly revealed to him that I'm his manna from heaven. He told me that God provided the manna for the Israelites. It had all the nutrients they needed. It was ALL they needed. And yet the Israelites complained. They didn't appreciate that God had provided, they wanted something different. Dave told me there was nothing wrong with the manna. It hadn't changed. But their attitude toward it had changed. Dave apologized for taking me for granted and has often called me his manna from heaven ever since.

Since our anniversary was on a Tuesday, Dave saved this following weekend for the biggest part of the celebration. He got a reservation for Friday night at a motel (with a whirlpool in the room). He took me out to a nice restaurant and he spent time and attention on me. Late Friday night, I suddenly realized something: Dave really thinks I'm beautiful! It's not something he just says because he's supposed to. He REALLY believes it.

For those who don't know me, I'm not beautiful. I'm not even pretty. And I've been so convinced that no one could find anything beautiful about me (especially since I put on weight with each pregnancy and after two bouts of Bells Palsy left me with a crooked face) that I have just assumed he was saying it because he knew he should. Friday night, I realized how unfair I'd been to Dave! Instead of being astonished, thankful and completely overwhelmed by the fact that he really thinks I'm beautiful, I've always shrugged his complements off as something husbands say to their wives to keep them happy.

Once that realization hit me, I suddenly began to feel REALLY loved. I felt taller, skinnier, and prettier. But what I felt most was how grateful I was to have a man who has loved me all these years. I was in love! More than when we first married. And our marriage has suddenly gotten strong. No longer on a shaky ladder, we're more like a 25 year old rock-climber standing on a solid parking lot.

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