Hello Readers!
My name is Charity, and I am the newest addition to the “Better than Newlyweds” team. Thanks so much to everyone for the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful blog.
They called all the married couples onto the dance floor for a contest, at a wedding I recently attended.
Immediately, I grabbed my husband’s hand yanking him away from his fettuccini. I love contests especially if there is even a hint of a prize. A familiar Frank Sinatra tune began to play as the DJ explained the rules, all the married couples would dance and as they called out numbers 1,5,10, 25 ect…if you had been married for fewer years than that number, you would leave the dance floor. The couple married the longest would remain dancing and be the winners.
My husband and I have been married for almost a year, so I knew we would be out the first round.
As we sat back down again, my husband joyfully reunited with his fettuccini, I watched in awe as two couples remained. They were holding each other as they called out: “5 years, 15 years, how about 30 years? 45 years, 50 years…60 years!”
The two couples faces beamed with joy and pride as they looked out at the wedding guests. I began to weep. It was a day when a man and women covenanted their lives together. And it was a day two couples could stand, one couple barely able to maneuver themselves to the center of the room, because they knew the steps of faithfulness. They were rocking to the cadence of covenant.
I wasn’t sure if the swaying was dancing or the wobbling of tierd muscles, because they all needed a bit of support to stay vertical. Regardless, they held eachother tenderly and fiercely. With each subtle step across the floor, I saw a richness of love that only years of faithfulness can grow, I heard the sweetness of covenant unbroken with each feable step, and I felt the presence of God swelling above the music, His whispers singing, “this is what you were made for.”
I want so many things in life: to publish a book, to travel to Europe, to never burn dinner in the oven because I was pinteresting, to figure out how to control my curly locks, to go a whole week without being late,.. to anything. In the midst of my plans, dreams and agenda I glimpsed a rythm of profound purpose – to love my husband, to be faithful to Him with my mind, body and soul, and to respect and encourage Him better everyday.
In our less than a year of married bliss, we have already had many “discussions” (our nice way of saying arguments). We have hurt eachother’s feelings, and apologized for wrong. But we have also agreed, agreed to disagree, encouraged, sacrificed and forgiven. We have faced the challenge and sorrow of miscarrying two sweet babies. I know there will be many challenges ahead. I can’t wait to dance, shuffle, and some days wobble through everyone with my amazing husband for the next 59 years.