11 Years, and a Prayer

15 years ago at my church graduation party, this boy (who used to annoy me to no end) gave me a box of cards with a book of stamps, his Auburn address and a sweet note requesting I keep in touch. That small, sweet gesture changed my life forever. Eventually, I used those cards, and he wrote back. Pretty soon we were talking on the phone for hours (annoying my roommates) and planning weekend visits together. The rest is history, and today marks eleven years since I walked down the isle to that annoying boy. ;-)

A sweet old lady once offered some advice to this new bride. She told me the love that flutters in your stomach and dances around in your head, that's not the real thing, or at least not the whole thing. That might be where it starts, but the real thing is waking up one day realizing all the glamour of the wedding and honeymoon is over. Understanding that you can't dress yourself up and hide the crazy anymore. Seeing each other for the often imperfect, sometimes annoying, increasingly unsightly, ever changing human beings you really are. And choosing to love each other anyway. That's the real thing. And, the longer I'm married, the more I'm convinced there really is more to the kind of love you choose than the kind you fall into.

As I was thinking about what to blog tonight, I thought about typing out a story from the past eleven years, something funny or sad, something sweet or just plain sappy, but I think I would like to type out a prayer, for him and me and the next eleven years.

An Open Prayer for my Husband:

I pray for God to grant you wisdom and courage to lead and guide our family. I pray that God would continue to work through you in the lives of your patients, your friends, your family and our community. I pray that God would protect you and strengthen you so that your children will always have a father to go to when life is scary or confusing or hard. I pray that He would give you good health so I never have to worry about raising them on my own. I pray that your arms are always open and your heart is always full. I pray that someday we can look at our grown children and growing family and be glad we chose each other all those years ago. I pray that as you reach the end of your journey and look back at the life you lived you have no regrets.

I pray that God gives you grace to forgive me when I fail you, when my attitude reflects contempt and resentment, and when I let the stress of life come between us.

I pray that every new day God gives us, we continue to choose each other. I pray that the hand I'm holding when its all over is yours.

I pray for another eleven years, and another and another.

Happy anniversary, Baby!