My 36th Year of Marriage School~

I have been married to the same man for 36 years today. George Broome​ knows me better than anyone else in this world except God. He knows my weaknesses, insecurities, fears, failures and struggles. In spite of me, he has endured, contended, remained.

I know him pretty well, too. Sometimes he says or does things that infuriate me. Sometimes, if I'm honest, I'd liked to have given him a good boot kick (I haven't). We have had our share of "fights" during this marriage thing.

When we recited our wedding vows on May 26, 1979, in front of God, our family and friends, we were very young. Some might say too young. But we were in love with love and life, certain that nothing in this world was insurmountable and that with God's help our "chord of three strands" might suffer some wear and tear, but it wouldn't be broken.

Before I said "I do," all those years ago, I prayed with fervor that if I wasn't supposed to marry this man God would remove him from my life. To be completely honest, a (very) few times I've wondered if God heard that prayer. But I'd be wrecklessly naive if I didn't confess that there are an equal or greater number of times he has surely wondered the same.

This marriage thing--it's not a contract. It's a covenant. That's why man really cannot define it in its truest sense--in its holy sense. It's not about what two individuals want it to be, it's what God determined it is--a picture of His relationship with His bride, the church. A bride he cherished more than His own life. 

I think both of us feel we've had many more happy days than hard ones, but we've discovered that this matrimony deal isn't really about that in the end. Actually, it's much more about making us holy. It's about teaching us what it might look like if we ever conformed to the image of the One who knows who we REALLY are and what we REALLY need and how far we have to go to get there, yet loves us with undying, unfailing, unequaled passion.

When you choose to marry, you effectively enroll in the Perpetual  University of Higher Learning. Funny thing, it seems even after all these years we keep discovering new courses that are required for graduation. Maybe that's because its students never fully acheive the ultimate goal: radical selflessness for the benefit of someone else.

With all my heart I thank God that He chose to give me the gift of a companion for my education who would stay the course with me, I'm glad to be learning with a man who is patient and true--and committed to graduating together in spite of how tough any given class might be.

So, Happy Anniversary to my fellow-student, my study partner, my tutor. I pray God gives us many more years of higher education together.
<3
Sandy