In the summer of 1975 I met a pretty dark skinned girl with long black hair. Her name was Susan and in the summer of 1981 we married. When you are a teenage boy you don’t think too much beyond the weekend, but if I could counsel a kid about marriage, I would encourage him to look far beyond his girlfriend’s beauty and ponder questions that might never cross the mind.
Will she be one you can count on through thick and thin? We just repeat “in sickness and in health” because the preacher says it, but what if tough times really come? Will your lover be faithful? I joined another patient and three multiple myeloma doctors at a conference in downtown Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. I shared, “Be sure to honor your caregiver. My wife has been amazing these eighteen years and I would not be sitting on this stage without her.” That statement received a long applause in the room full of those dealing with the disease.
Will she be a good mother? Noble goals and youthful dreams may be put on hold when kids come into the world. No matter what a person’s philosophy about raising children is, being a mother is no joke. The time, the energy, the sacrifice, and the love required is beyond comprehension. In addition to loving their husbands, mothers extend themselves, give of themselves, and deny themselves for the good of the little ones God has given.
Will she be a good grandmother? My joy now is watching Susan love Wilkes, Macy, and Owen. She will leave in a few days to fly to Denver to help Kinsey bring another granddaughter into the world. We joke that the grandchildren are more fun than the children, but we’re truly loving everyone. When I was a twenty-one year old newlywed, I doubt I would have paid much attention to someone trying to get me to envision what type of grandmother my new bride would be, but decades later it is an important matter.
Thanks for your prayers for Susan as she serves, and for Kinsey, Jordan, and Owen as they anticipate a new member of the family.
“May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.” Proverbs 5:18