Twenty-one years ago this evening, I married my best friend. We sense today what we felt then, blessed God honored our lives with a deep friendship. What we thought was deep then seems only a shallow stream after sharing life for these years. Add to twenty-one the four years we spent “dating” and we have shared 25 years – a quarter of a century!
You never know who your are nor who you will become until living in the “furnace” of relationship. Don Miller in Blue Like Jazz underscores a life drowned in “my own personal” thing. I use “furnace” as a metaphor for a number of reasons. The fire incinerates detrimental relational elements. Fire purifies and hardens quality metals providing strength in the face of stress and strain. Fire provides warmth from the cold. Fire invites.
We look forward to more of life with each other – best friends. In the process we know in the next twenty-one years we do not know what we will be nor become but trust God will always be at work to “sharpen” us as we share life.
I love you Patty – Happy Anniversary!