I Am My Beloved's...

Yesterday, Peggy and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary. We spent the day together, just out and about. We did the things we love to do, enjoyed the dunes, saw a movie, ate good food and just spent time together. We don't do that enough. None of us do. We have discovered much about ourselves over these years and even more about God's grace and what it takes to be a happily married couple. We share that wisdom often and know that part of our ministry is about helping couples make great marriages.

We always knew we'd make it to 25 and well beyond. We have taken our vows seriously, especially "until we are partedby death." )Although there has been talk at times of facilitating this! ;) Both of us are stubborn and we are committed to one another. We are intent on making this marriage work. Maybe it was because we were just kids when we married. Maybe it's because even our families wondered if it would last. But we knew we'd do whatever it took to work through every problem and make it work. So far it's been a pretty good plan. Not easy, but it's worked.

I believe the real reason we have gotten this far has been our attitudes toward one another. We built this relationship on time-tested, biblical traditions and concepts,such as the one represented in the wedding rings pictured here.

The engraved lettering says (in english), "I am by beloved's and my beloved is mine." It's from the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) 2:16. We try to live by this every day, as beloved to one another. Okay, so we don't always like each other, but we have promised to love each other and we do. It's our vow, our promise, our pledge and nothing will break it, because we ask Christ to help us every day.

This book has always been a challenge for theologians and Christian Biblical scholars. They wonder why a passage such as this would be in the Hebrew Scriptures, that it must represent or symbolize Israel's history and God's love for her. But I think we miss the point if we try to read into it too much. It hasn't been a problem for our Jewish brothers and sisters. They see this as a poem of great love between husband and wife. That it's God's design for marriage that we vow in the words, "to love and to cherish." Song of Songs is our ideal, because it's how God loves us.

While it speaks of human marriage, it is also the very way God love us, cherishes us. Jesus has always been called the bridegroom and the church as the bride, the beloved. We are a part of that great marriage bond and God is committed to us, to you. He only asks for us to learn how to love and cherish him in the same way. There's nothing we can do about the first part, "I am my beloved's." God simply loves and cherishes us. What we do is the latter, "and my beloved is mine."

It's the key to a great relationship, with our spouse, with God!

Peace ><>
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