Love grows and grows and grows...

Good morning!  Can I just say, once again, that I am not a fan of cold weather or winter!  I know it is inevitable but it is NOT my favorite time of year.  It seems like we had a very short fall season.  Honestly, I don't know why we can't just have Spring & Fall with a tiny Summer thrown in!  (**smiles**)  Oh well, God knows best and He designed the four seasons so what good does it do for me to complain about it.  I'm not really complainng, just expressing my lack of love for the cold.

Jim, doing what he loves to do...clean the bike!

This past weekend my amazing hubby and I got to get away for 4 days on our motorcycle.  It was amazing.  We went to Arkansas to do some riding.  Arkansas is some of the most beautiful country.  The weekend was amazing.  The weather was perfect.  Jim & I had a great time being together.  I couldn't have asked for a better time.  As I pondered our time together while riding through some amazing winding roads, I wondered how it is that we get closer and closer over time.  Perhaps it is normal and I just don't know it.  I guess I have never really 'thought' about it before, but I think I always assumed that as you grow into your 'twilight' years with your spouse you kind of just 'exist' together.  Being that I have never 'grown old' with a spouse before, I don't have anything to compare with.  It just seems that Jim & I are closer today than we were yesterday.  And closer yesterday than we were the day before that.  Does that make any sense to you?  I'm not sure that I am putting pen to paper, so to speak, in a manner that is understandable.  I know that my husband is an amazing man that I love more and more with each passing day.  I know that we have had our hard times in the past, but those times seem so very long ago. 

I look at our lives together for these past 35+ years and am so very thankful for them.  We were not Christians when we got married and we were quite young ... just 16 & 17.  We were still in high school and starting our senior year.  Our first child, Jenifer from this blog & Sweet Blessings, was born 3 1/2 years later.  She was followed by 3 more amazing kids over a 6 year period.  We have never been separated or divorced.  We have fought like crazy and made up.  God became the center of our lives 4 1/2 years after we got married and has been the center since that time.  I know that it is because of God that our marriage has continued and gotten better over time.  While I don't think we would have ever divorced, I fully believe that we would be living in a loveless marriage had we not turned our lives over to God.  God has been the center of our lives and our marriage for over 30 years.  People look at us and think that we are newly married and I think that's just cool!  As a teenager, people thought the same thing about my parents.  I guess I had a good example of marriage growing up.   I am so very thankful to my parents for living a wonderful married life in front of me.  I remember they had problems, too.  They fought and they made up.  They lived and laughed and cried and stayed together! 

I'm not trying to get on a soapbox here.  I know that many of you reading this will be divorced or possibly in a not-so-happy marriage.  I know that there are Godly reasons for divorce.  I know that the enemy will do whatever he can to 'end' a marriage and tear a family apart.  I am simply trying to say to each of you that God is amazing.  He sets love where you think it's impossible to love.  God will give you patience and understanding for your spouse when you don't think you even want to care any more.  God loves us and we are to love like He loves us...completely and unconditionally.  That's how I love Jim...completely and unconditionally!  I am so thankful for him.  Yes, I get comletely irritated with him at times...especially over his stinking race car and love of the sport...but that doesn't change the fact that I will try my dead level best to support him as he drives the dumb car around a dirty race track.  (Can you tell I really don't like racing!)  No, I really don't like it...but he does...and he supports me, therefore I will support him! 

Like I said before, I love him more today than I did yesterday!  Today, I don't think it is possible to love and respect him more than I do right now.  However, tomorrow will tell a different story because I know that I will love him more then than I do today!  My only regret from this past weekend is that it only lasted 4 days.  My biggest enjoyment from this past weekend is that it was 4 of the most glorious days spent with the love of my life!

Do yourself a favor, plan a special date ... it may be just a few hours or a whole weekend ... with your love.  Make an amazing memory and fall in love with that special person all over again!  It is something that you will NOT regret!

Have a great, love-filled day!