Today would have been my mother and daddy's 88th wedding anniversary were still living. As it was, they had almost 57 years together before my daddy passed in 1984. God willing, John and I will have been married 57 years in September.
I was fortunate when I was growing up that my parents were a good example of what marriage should be. I can never remember them arguing. Oh, I'm sure they did perhaps when I wasn't around, but never within my hearing. Daddy loved to tease my ...mother. I can see my mother now when Daddy would start teasing her. She would look at me with lips pursed and just shake her head and sigh. Then, we would all laugh together.
I was fortunate when I was growing up that my parents were a good example of what marriage should be. I can never remember them arguing. Oh, I'm sure they did perhaps when I wasn't around, but never within my hearing. Daddy loved to tease my ...mother. I can see my mother now when Daddy would start teasing her. She would look at me with lips pursed and just shake her head and sigh. Then, we would all laugh together.
I miss those times.
I miss seeing my mother and daddy singing in the church choir when I was very young. I miss seeing them from my vantage point at the piano or in the choir when I was an adult, setting together on the fourth pew back in the big red brick church down the street from the post office.
I miss floating the river with them in the summertime. Mother would pack a picnic lunch and fill a thermos with lemonade. She would grab her wide brimmed hat, slip into her one pair of jeans and off we would go. My mother, always the lady, never wore pants or jeans until she was well into her eighties and then only because her little thin legs would sometimes get cold.
My Daddy was a fairly tall man and my mother was only 5'3". But, when they were walking together, which they did regularly as they aged, they fit together like a glove on a hand. My Daddy was forever the provider and protector of my mother and me. My mother was always the provider of home cooked meals and plenty of hugs for my Daddy and me.
I miss those hugs.
Marriage isn't easy. Despite how wonderful the honeymoon years go, they seldom have the staying power to withstand a lifetime of "for better or worse". God wants us to love our mates with the same kind of love He loved us; agape love. It's an unconditional love; a sacrificial love. It's a choice to love and not based on feelings. We have to learn how to forgive each other and respect each other no matter how we feel. Each spouse has to develop a servants heart.
I really think my Mother and Daddy loved each other all those years with agape love. And, I thank them for showing me what marriage really is.
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Genesis 2:24 (KJV)
I miss seeing my mother and daddy singing in the church choir when I was very young. I miss seeing them from my vantage point at the piano or in the choir when I was an adult, setting together on the fourth pew back in the big red brick church down the street from the post office.
I miss floating the river with them in the summertime. Mother would pack a picnic lunch and fill a thermos with lemonade. She would grab her wide brimmed hat, slip into her one pair of jeans and off we would go. My mother, always the lady, never wore pants or jeans until she was well into her eighties and then only because her little thin legs would sometimes get cold.
My Daddy was a fairly tall man and my mother was only 5'3". But, when they were walking together, which they did regularly as they aged, they fit together like a glove on a hand. My Daddy was forever the provider and protector of my mother and me. My mother was always the provider of home cooked meals and plenty of hugs for my Daddy and me.
I miss those hugs.
Marriage isn't easy. Despite how wonderful the honeymoon years go, they seldom have the staying power to withstand a lifetime of "for better or worse". God wants us to love our mates with the same kind of love He loved us; agape love. It's an unconditional love; a sacrificial love. It's a choice to love and not based on feelings. We have to learn how to forgive each other and respect each other no matter how we feel. Each spouse has to develop a servants heart.
I really think my Mother and Daddy loved each other all those years with agape love. And, I thank them for showing me what marriage really is.
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Genesis 2:24 (KJV)
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