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FIVE wonderful years...
Yes, it's been five years! As we sat for a nice five-course fondue experience last night, all alone, just the two of us, in a dimly lighted restaurant, it was too perfect. For the first time, kids did not take up our conversation nor did the ministry. We simply enjoyed each others' presence, gluttonizing ourselves with too much food. We can't believe half a decade passed by so quickly. Sandy shared how Ted married a young, vibrant girl and turned her into a "woman". Ted didn't have to say much, because his belly obviously shows five years of a happy marriage. We truly thank the Lord for each day spent together. We love each other more and more each day, only because the Father continues to lavish us with His abundant love. We have shared times of tears and pain, but they always ended in laughter and tears of JOY.
As we look back on five years, there are a few things that have kept our marriage alive and strong....
"Clean-slate policy"
This was shared by one of our favorite professors and his wife at Gordon-Conwell. It's basically the biblical principle of not letting the sun go down on your anger. And LOVE keeps no record of wrongs. Everytime we face each other's weaknesses or flaws, confront each other and resolve things, we never bring it up again. Even if the same character flaw arises in a new situation, we treat each new "tension" as a new case. So, even til this day, we don't hold grudges against each other...and we have great hope because Jesus is sanctifying us day by day.
"keep laughing"
Laughter is truly medicine for our souls. We laugh a lot in our household, over almost everything. We would be embarassed to share the things we do as a family just to make each other laugh. Even in the midst of a few serious arguments, the tension quickly subsided because one of us would just laugh uncontrollably...and the worse scenario for laughter is when one of has a full mouth of liquid. =)
"love and respect"
We believe that the husband cannot LOVE the wife if she does not RESPECT him. The wife cannot respect the husband unless she feels loved by him. Both are equally involved in this equation of a happy, biblical marriage. Ted strives to love his wife, treating her as the queen of the universe. And Sandy strives to respect her husband, boosting his confidence to go out and conquer the world. Sometimes, we live in our little bubble as queen and conqueror of the world, raising two little princesses...but this has kept our marriage strong and FUN!
Thank you friends for walking in this journey of love and marriage with us.
We look forward to many more years together...
The LOVER and his BELOVED
Posted by Ted on January 6, 2006 08:46 PM
