Dancing the Dance

A belated "Happy Valentines Day!" I hope it was a blessed celebration, although this holiday can be expressed throughout the year for our loved ones.

Roses & balloons tucked here & there. 

Chocolate, tea, thee & me

& dancing by candlelight to our song, "Longer" by Dan Fogelberg. Almost forty years later, we are still dancing the dance. It always makes me cry...

So, how do we keep dancing the dance? Day in, day out. Night in, night out. Moments that intertwine, so that you can't tell where the one stops & the other begins. The process that the Bible calls, becoming One. The  sacred love story that is our own. The story of mutual love, respect, honor, sacrifice, giving, living for one another, dying for one another, to our wants & even dreams, for each other. The story of laughter, tears, pain, cruel & devastating loss, victories won, disappointments, passion, selfish choices, love notes hidden in secret places, love names for each other, the inside jokes that only we understand. Then, the times of angry & hateful words, the creeping coldness, the pushing away of each other. These are also part of our story, but not to write "The End", across our marriage epitaph. No, then comes forgiveness, saying I'm sorry & the line from an old movie, "falling in love all over again." All of it is the building, the forging, the cementing of this fragile, but evolving into a resilient, indestructible force, this enigma of becoming 'one', called marriage. Every story is individual, each distinct, each personal & sacred.

One of the sweetest  love gifts from my husband happened on a winters day when he was hunting in the woods & came upon a birch tree whose bark was loosened from the tree. He gently tore the fragile bark away & wrote a love poem for me on it. I was so touched that he thought of me at that time. I am so blessed by his many heroic deeds that he would never consider as out-of-the- ordinary, that he has done for me & our kids over these many years. He is dancing the dance.

He has seen me at my worst & I have also seen him at his worst. 

But after the storm has quieted & the calm returns, sorry's said, making up is done, our love story resumes, usually the better because a little part of selfishness has died, & a little more patience, a little more tolerance, a little more grace is awakened which brings with it more life that makes our marriage thrive. 

Marriage is definitely not for the faint of heart. It takes a great amount of courage, endurance, patience, humility, a 'letting the other be first & have their own way'. Let me give you some examples from the Bible.

"By love serve one another." Galatians 5:13

"Bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:2

"...love covers a multitude of sins." I Peter 4:8

"Do everything in love." I Corinthians 16:14

&, of course the greatest, to me, of love scriptures,

"...love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not behave rudely does not seek its own, is not proud, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all thing. Love never fails." I Corinthians 13.

Old words. True words. But how? How??... Through the Valentine of the Ages, the Lover of our souls, Jesus Christ. Because He is love's beginning.  He is love itself. He will  live His love through us if we will let Him. His love is the only kind that can sustain all of the heartbreaks, the failures, the losses, & bring redemption & restoration to all of these. What a great comfort to me to know that His love in us & through us "never fails". 

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. & a threefold cord is not easily broken."

(bold print mine). Threefold. You, your spouse, & Jesus. Unbeatable. & isn't it exciting to know you have a good reward coming because of your faithfulness & labor? from Jesus to you?! WOW!! & how secure is it to know that when I fall, my husband will lift me up? that when I fall, I won't be alone? that my love will keep me warm. That together, we can fight & face anything. & overcome!! So, let "our song" play on. We will not quit, or give up. Because this is our story. Our love story.  & the Lover of our soul will help us 'keep time', as we keep 'Dancing the Dance.'

Raintree Perk of the Day:

"...but the greatest of these is love." 

Our greatest, Forever Valentine, is LOVE.