|
Written by Mark Fox
|
|
Tuesday, 24 March 2009 20:42 |
At our church’s annual Valentine’s Banquet, one thing the 32 couples had to do was find the people who matched a secret description. We laughed ourselves silly as we read submissions like the following:
At our church’s annual Valentine’s Banquet, one thing the 32 couples had to do was find the people who matched a secret description. We laughed ourselves silly as we read submissions like the following: "When we were dating, we shot bottle rockets at each otheracross an open field." Or, "His pick up line was, ‘Can I buy you some crackers?’" One couple shared that they had once got matching perms. Another divulged that they had ridden away for their honeymoon on a Harley-Davidson.
The submission that got the most "Ahhh, how sweet" reactions was the couple who said, "We have been married for 20 years and I write a poem for my wife on each anniversary." Of course there were the obligatory jokes aimed his way, like, "How hard can it be to come up with another two lines every year to complete ‘Roses are red, violets are blue?’" But truth be told, we were all impressed. And perhaps a bit motivated.
One of my Mom’s most prized treasures after Dad’s passing was a collection of little poems he had written to her on sticky notes over the years. We collected them in a book for her and she loves to read them and cry.
Cindy and I have a box in our closet packed full of memories and mementos, some of the most prized being love letters penned over the years. They include the song I wrote to her in 1981 when we were dating. I would often put notes on the door of her Chapel Hill apartment as I left for my 4:45 a.m. summer job at IBM, thus the reference to notes in the song entitled "Cindy Lou:"
"You’re my reason for arisin’, in the morning like I do,
I suppose it’s not surprisin’ that my notes say ‘I love you!’"
I have a file full of Valentine’s, Father’s Day, and birthday cards written to me by Cindy over these nearly 27 years. One of my favorites is what she wrote on my 50th: "You are as young to me as the day we met … but much more mature. (smile) I love you with all my heart … P.S. Let’s grow old together!"
There is nothing I look forward to more than that. As we grow old together, our expressions of love will be sweeter still, ripened fruit of years in the Son.
Cindy still carries this note in her Bible that I wrote to her in 2005:
"You are the apple of my eye, the light of my life, the bounce in my step, the laughter in my heart, the joy of my soul."
She wrote this to me for Valentine’s Day this year:
"You are the reason I get up in the morning, and it’s your step I listen for at the end of the day. You are my Knight in Shining Armor. I love you more than words can say." If I am her knight, then she is my maiden, and I live to serve the King with her by my side. Solomon wrote of his bride, "Like a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." Amen. My wife is a lily, a rose, a sweet little daisy of a girl, and more precious to me than this pitiful little column could ever begin to express. My prayer is that the years will reveal my love for her more and more, and that should the Lord allow me to grow old, so old that I get to the ‘feeble and decrepit’ stage, that I can do so with Cindy. There could be nothing sweeter. |
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 25 June 2009 13:13 |
