I sure do love my husband. I’m convinced he’s the best man ever! This morning he demonstrated his love by allowing me the indulgent pleasure of sleeping in. It was blissful! Sometimes he demonstrates his love by waking me early in the morning so we can enjoy coffee and conversation before the kids awaken and before he leaves for work. Those are really special moments, too. Every once in awhile, perhaps for a birthday gift or when he recognizes I could really benefit from it, he surprises me with a “Mom Retreat”- a night away by myself in the luxury of a hotel to spend time with Jesus and rest and relax. He’s a wonderful husband, and how I’ve loved sharing my life with him these past fourteen years.
It was fourteen years ago next month that we went on our first date. Ours was a whirlwind romance, and he most definitely swept me off my feet. When I think back to those early days we shared together, I’m reminded of what a romantic my husband can be. Early on in our relationship, he had the opportunity to travel to Israel
Time has passed. Days have passed into years. The circumstances of our lives are obviously different now than when we first began dating. Late night walks through the park don’t sound nearly as appealing as perhaps turning in early because it’s been a day of working and raising children and cleaning house, and our bodies need the recuperation that occurs from a good night’s sleep. Romance has taken on a different look. At times it’s tempting to look back on those yesterdays with the glitter and accoutrement of young love, and by comparison, today can begin to appear a little lackluster. When that comparison starts to take place, it’s easy to think things such as, “Remember when….”, and rather than simply relishing the memory of a cherished moment, it becomes a pining for a time and place when things might have seemed “more.” In actuality, the pining isn’t for a time or a place, but for a feeling; and feelings are such fickle things. Immaturity manifests itself in a life dominated by how one feels or doesn’t feel…
My relationship with my husband doesn’t look the same as it did fourteen years ago; and it shouldn’t. If we were still in the early stages of our love relationship, something would be seriously wrong. We’ve grown together; we’ve changed; we’ve weathered storms and celebrated triumphs. Different is not necessarily equivalent to bad; worse; wrong. I still enjoy getting flowers and candy and love notes, and a night out on the town with the man I love is certainly exciting and wonderful, but it’s important for me to recognize the overtures of love manifesting themselves in these teen years of my marriage, as well as in each of the phases to follow.
So it is with my relationship with God. I prayed a prayer asking Jesus to be Lord of my life almost thirty-three years ago. I can recall how simplistically I viewed my friendship with Jesus when I was a child, and I’m struck by the measure of child-like faith I had back then. I also recall various experiences and encounters I’ve had with God over the span of our relationship that were incredible and powerful and left an indelible mark upon my heart. There’s most definitely merit to having memorial stones- those things we can look at and remember how God manifested his glory and changed us in the process; those times when we recognized with greater clarity his extravagant love. Then we, as David did, can recall who God’s been for us and what he’s done and encourage ourselves in the Lord. However, I believe one of the diversionary tactics of the enemy is to entice us to avert our gaze onto what was, not as a means of encouragement or restoring hope or eliciting anticipation of what God’s got in store next, but to make what is appear lackluster. “Remember when I had this experience with God… If only I could go back to that time or that place… If only I could feel like that again.”
I’ve often heard ministers speak of God doing a “new” thing; wanting to do a “new” thing; praying that he would do a “new” thing. So often, however, what we really desire is that he do that old thing he did that one time that made us feel so good. But our relationship with God shouldn’t look like it did last year or five years ago or thirty years ago. As we walk with him and learn with him and grow in him, we change; our relationship with him takes on the nuances of exquisite familiarity, and it’s his desire to teach us to recognize the overtures of maturing love. I believe the new things God wants to do in me- in all of us- are in the context of the not at all new thing he purposed from the start: to have intimate relationship with his beloved. I’m convinced that there are experiences and encounters and adventures God has planned for me of which I can’t even begin to conceive, and that breeds such a holy anticipation and excitement!
Romans 8:15-17: “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!”
Thanks, God, for ALL that you’ve done, and help me to be always mindful of your goodness. Yet how wonderful that what I’ve experienced with you thus far is only just the beginning! Remind me, though, that it’s all about dancing joyfully in the arms of my Father whose heartbeat is for mine!
