Staying Power

I love to hear couples talk about their long journey together in marriage. My own parents were married over 60 years. I know several couples who have been married 50 plus and 60 plus years. That makes my 37 years seem like not long at all. I have noticed that couples who have these marriages that have lasted 5 and 6 decades long have one thing in common: they all have a great sense of humor.

They can just look at each other and say a little code word and they will both laugh with great gusto. Trying to be married without humor is like taking a cold bath - you can do it but it will just make you shiver. Laughter with someone who knows your little oddities and finds your strangeness attractive is a rare and special gift. Every marriage has challenges and bumps in the road - sometimes things are not funny. But most of what we face in marriage can be enriched by a childlike joy that helps us laugh together, even when others do not get the joke! That secret place of intimate joy is remarkable.

Staying power - the ability to stay together and to find genuine joy in the journey is something very special. People who have been married 5, 10, 15 , or even 20 years make no impression on me. Their marriage may be wonderful and healthy and praise God for it! What lights my fire is a life of marriage - being married for most of your life and finding it an exciting and joyous adventure - now that gets my attention.

I am celebrating the great joy of a life together with the person who knows me inside out and still thinks I am funny, clever and odd in all the right ways!

Give us another 10 years or so and someone can say "Now that couple has staying power." Whether you have been hitched for 5 years or 50 years my prayer for you is staying power!

Just thinking, Steve Yates