The attitude of summertime is wearing down as kids are going back to
school. A time when the girl you met who stayed with your best friend is
leaving for home, and many a summer romance is coming to an end. Some may
continue into the school year, but each new September is a new proving ground
for summer loves, and the dreams and promises that went with them. For each
September, that chubby girl who sat next to you and was so annoying, lost 20
pounds, or shifted it up, and now she won’t talk to you. If only you had
known. That skinny girl who wore too much Clearasil suddenly has a fresh
complexion, and the geeky girl with the braces had them removed, and the nerdy
for eyes is wearing contacts. Summer has made a huge change in many of the
girls when I was growing up, and from 8th grade through high school, every
summer meant new love. And perhaps some of the best two month romances I ever
had. Very few continued into the school year, and when they did were short
lived. For all the above mentioned reasons. For there is nothing more romantic
than falling in love, and watching her feel the same way about you as you do
about her. But while your roaming eye is checking out the new talent, so is
hers, and the “I’ll never leave you for another one,” fades into just another
memory in the fall. Oh, but those hot summer nights... and to be young again.
After a quick moment, no thanks.
I have been married to the girl of my dreams, Theresa, for over 36 years.
If I had to make a list of everything I wanted in a woman, she is it, and even
more things God knew and I didn’t. She rides, cooks, and loves Jesus, who could
as for more? Yet I see many, too many in their late forties, divorcing. And it
is never their fault. I could never imagine dating again, of doing the whole
dating scene, but yet I see and talk to many, and am shocked when I meet their
new spouse. Maybe their summer lasted a few years, but the September exchange
sure looks different than I remember it to be. Why not invest all that time and
energy into the one you vowed to never leave nor forsake, and look ahead
together, rather than back alone? Take your wife on a date, send her some
chocolate, as reminded by a bumper sticker I saw today, “I rather fall into
chocolate than fall in love.’ From her size, she fell many times and never
really left the M&M’s behind. But there is a certain romance about my wife
of many years, and till death do us part had a special meaning when I almost did
a few years ago. Love and respect still go along way, and have never gone out
of style.
At the last wedding I did, I introduced the groom’s parents, and had them
stand and applaud them for over 30 years of marriage. Sadly her mother, was
there with her boyfriend, husband #2 gave away the bride, and husband #1 paid
the bill. And so I gave them advice, good advice, “you may not always be in
love, but honor your commitment.” And I can tell you personally that if love is
only an emotion, that commitment will be short lived. And what kind of example
are you leaving for any children? And so during the ceremony, I shared about
Adam and Eve, the first marriage, and the first family. And how excited Adam
must have been when he woke up and saw Eve. Ho would he not love her, she was
made form him, and a part of him, and apart from him she would never be whole.
And so I had them close their eyes, just before the vows, and open them after.
Just to get the effect of what Adam and Eve saw, and their faces were aglow-and
I pray that that glow lasts until death do they part. But it takes commitment,
and a vulnerability, a trust that you can not have with another for the two to
become one. And a reason I see so many struggling in their relationship with
Jesus.
I was taught early in my Christian walk that I had to be vulnerable to
Jesus. I didn’t get it, but soon found out like falling in love each summer,
with no commitment from either of us, that a September love was soon on the
horizon. And that Jesus had made himself vulnerable to me, for me, and with
me. He gave himself wholly, and wanted me to also. And when I did, the
blessings increased, I spent more time with him, meditating on him, and soon I
was in love with Jesus. More than an emotion, it was so deep I still cannot
explain it, for if I could, words would only diminish it. For when I realized
God is love, then I too could be in love. And then God gave me Theresa. And as
long as I keep him first, I can love her more. Summer or winter, in good times
or bad...he never changes. And my love for my wife grows because Jesus first
loved us. Paul McCartney wrote that “the world was full of silly love songs,”
and too many relationships are just like that. I wanted more, I wanted more
than something that I’ve heard love called, I wanted to know it was really love,
and in Jesus I have found everything. And he has been my heart’s desire, giving
me a wife to share his love with. Nohting sill about that.
So if you are falling in love, or thinking about it, take the advice from
an old Strawbs song, Just Love. “ It’s just love, don’t try to comprehend it,
if you money you’ve best spend it, you may never love again.” Give your spouse
all of the love you can, it is money well spent, but really invested. And walk
with Jesus the same way...and you will never want to walk with any other. I can
never know what Adam felt that morning and Eve was there, but I know what it is
like for me. Jesus, Theresa, and motorcycles-let the blessings continue.
Unforgettable...in every way. Walking my baby back home. Love you
honey...falling into chocolate.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com