On this day, when love is in the air, my thoughts turn to my beloved and all that he means to me. I wonder if I could survive if anything ever happened to him.
I watched a movie yesterday of a man who suddenly and tragically lost his wife, and watched how he grieved and struggled to deal with her death.
I saw a picture of a friend who recently lost her husband to death. The picture is of them together last Valentine's Day, and a short time later, he was taken from her with no warning.
Life is but a vapor. Here now, vanished in a second. Treasure your spouse. Love him/her. Tell him/her what they mean to you. The next instant could be too late.
Through my kitchen window, I can look out onto the street, and I see many, many people from my neighborhood walk by my window on that dusty, gravel street all day long. I see school children; I see men walking to work; I see women on their way to the market. And I see couples.
I like observing couples. Sometimes they're holding hands, and I smile; sometimes they're laughing about something. But sometimes I see the wife with a hard look on her face, and the husband looks distant. No conversation going on; no touching between the two.
I wonder, what created the distance? What did they allow to creep into their lives that created this distance?
My husband says that I'm extremely compassionate toward others' pain and troubles. I grieve too deeply with those who grieve, although they may be thousands of miles away. I wake up during the night praying for babies I don't even know, but who are in heart surgery. And I literally beg God to put couples back together; I spend time begging God to get the "other woman" away from the man so the wife will have a greater chance at taking him back. And I pray for the children of couples who have decided there's no reason to stay together.
The home is an institution created by God. The home begins with a man and a woman who decide they're better together than separated. And what God hath joined together, let not man put assunder.
I think about when my husband and I were united in holy matrimony...that day we vowed before God and man to love, cherish and honor one another through sickness and health, poverty and wealth, for richer or for poorer. Since then, we've experienced many emotions, disappointments, troubles, fears,...but as we've looked to God through those times, He has kept us together, as a couple...no more twain, but one. ONE.
As we live in this sinful world, we all struggle with seeking to live a life that is pleasing to God, as our flesh takes over and seeks victory. But taking one moment at a time, thinking before we speak, preferring the other before ourself, uplifing him in honor and in reverence...then I say we'll be advancing toward a whole lifetime with our spouse...'til death do us part...be it tomorrow, or forty years from tomorrow.
On this Valentine's Day, re-evaluate your priorities. Make today a time of thinking about what's truly important in this life. Not a career...but working at unity, harmony, and love in your relationship with your spouse. Not dreams of building a house...but the building up of those within your own home, edifying them through wisdom and establishing through understanding. Not plans of driving the latest model vehicle, but the desire of steering your marriage always in the direction of Bible principles for living as husband and wife...and doing all for the glory of God.
Love your spouse. And tell him/her today how important he/she is to you!!!
