FIFTY THREE

            Tuesday (June 19^th) Liz and I celebrated our 53^rd anniversary.  Wow, how time flies.

            In our day and time half of people who marry divorce.  Some of the loudest voices in the “Defense of Marriage” debate have themselves messed up multiple marriages.  I sympathize with those who have had bad experiences and have been through the necessity of divorce, and I rejoice with those who, like us, have successfully negotiated multiple decades.

            How do two people stay together as long as we have?  I’ve always joked that you must learn real quickly to say, “Yes dear, you were right and I was wrong.” (Or, “If a man says something in a forest and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?”)

            The truth of the matter of longevity in marriage is you must make a careful choice of a partner to begin with and you must add a sincere commitment to that person and to marriage itself.  Also it helps to follow some advice from the apostle Paul, not given solely for the married, but yet most pertinent.

            “Put up with a lot of stuff!  Empathize with the other’s feelings!  Want the best for the other!  Don’t be a show off! Don’t think too much of yourself!  Behave gentlemanly or lady like!  Don’t be overly concerned about material things! Stay cool!  Give the benefit of the doubt! Practice and commend moral living!  Keep on keeping on no matter what!” 

             You, of course, recognize this as an interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. 

            God gave Paul great wisdom.  I pray He will give the same wisdom to us, and the spirit to follow it. If that happens, we can add the words of verse 8, “Love never fails.”

            And that, friends, is how to stay married 53 years or more.