Thirty-two years ago around this time, I was running from love. I was running from the love of the man who would become my husband. Central Missouri is getting a lot of snow this year, and so it was in 1978. There was a foot of snow on the ground and the University closed.
I was a single mother of three living in “subsidized housing,” a nice name for the projects. Scrambling to support three children and finish a degree so I could them better. I was cooking pasta in the kitchen expecting spend the evening with cabin-fever stricken children.
It wasn’t quite dark when someone knocked on the door. Here was the man who was to become my husband with four valentine candy boxes, three smaller hearts and one larger. I had been refusing his phone calls and hadn’t seen him in weeks. Exactly what I was running from, I do not know.
He had walked to the house from his apartment on campus, a trek of about three miles in a foot of snow. He stopped at the grocery store to pick up the candy. It wasn’t even Valentine’s Day and he was new to the country. His only comment was I didn’t want you and the kids to not have anything for Valentine’s Day.
Needless to say this changed my mind, my heart and my life. In two weeks, we were married. Maybe he didn’t want me to change my mind and run again. I was in love and swept away by the romanticism of it all.
On February 25th, we will celebrate our thirty second anniversary. I guess that is an accomplishment. All of us like a romantic story with a happy ending. Even more than love and romance, a marriage requires a lot of hard work, perseverance and commitment.
I think it is the same way with our walk with the Lord. There are times when the love of God is as overwhelming and as powerful likened to my husband walk in the snow. I have felt that baptism of love as I have surrender to God’s love through Jesus.
While God’s love is constant, sometimes in the grind of life, it seems to be dim. Sometimes I get weary and doubt. I have done the same in marriage. I made a commitment. I made a vow to my husband. More importantly, I have made a commitment and vow to the Lord. Love is not just goose bumps or romance, love is commitment, perseverance and at times just plan hard work.
