Steel Anniversary

Today marks our 11th anniversary! Where has another year gone!? Among the many highlights, we achieved our goal of completing a triathlon...yeah! (and I'd venture to guess more lie ahead) And as parenting-luck would have it, we had to cancel our anniversary dinner plans last night as Thompson was sick.

In looking up what the traditional and modern gift is to commemorate this anniversary, I discovered it to be steel....yes, steel.  I can assure you we are not giving each other steel today.  But in many ways, I think we already have it. A marriage made of steel. A marriage founded on Christ. Certainly, our marriage has experienced both highs and lows...and perhaps this "steel marriage" is what has kept us united, strong, steady and able to withstand the winds that have come (and will come).

Earlier this year, I saw a video about a young couple who married with what most would consider great odds stacked against them (her healthy and he the survivor of a traumatic brain injury). Their story reminds us as John Piper so eloquently summarizes in This Momentary Marriage that “marriage is not mainly about prospering economically, it is mainly about displaying the covenant keeping love between Christ and His church…Knowing Christ is more important than making a living. Treasuring Christ is more important than bearing children. Either way, it is short. It may have many bright days or it may be covered with clouds. But if we set our face to make of marriage mainly what God designed it to be, no sorrows and no calamities can stand in our way. Everyone of them will be not an obstacle to success but a way to succeed…The beauty of the covenant keeping love between Christ and His church shines brightest when nothing but Christ can sustain it.”  God is most glorified in us {including marriage} when we are most satisfied in Him.

Here's to eleven steel years!