growing in love...

In cleaning out the drawers in Elli's room yesterday (getting my stuff out so I can put her clothes in), I found all of my wedding memorabilia that has not made it into a scrapbook yet after two years... pictures, invitations, reply cards, greeting cards, etc. It reminded me of how much fun my husband and I had preparing for our wedding day, and also of the feelings we had at that time.

We "courted" as opposed to "dated" because our intention from the beginning was to get married. We saved sex for marriage and our lips never touched until our wedding day, which was definitely worth every temptation we could have ever faced. We were both working college students with little free time, but we made time for each other...often very late at night! As I think about those months and years before marriage, it always makes me feel younger (now 28 with a baby, I feel old!)

Fresh love is an amazing thing. The emotional and physical feelings that it conjures up, the joy, the excitement... but I have to say that I'm looking forward to our love maturing and growing. When I looked at him on that day back in March 2007, he was my groom. Two years later, he is so much more. He is my partner, my closest friend, my strength, my stability, and the father of my daughter. I love him more as I know him longer. That's how love works. Biblically, intimacy is referred to as 'knowledge' (i.e. Adam 'knew his wife' and she conceived...) because in order to love, you must know who you love. The classic, Fiddler on the Roof, was on television yesterday. One of my favorite scenes is when Tevye asks Golde if she loves him and they break into the song, "Do you love me?."

In the Bible and in previous generations, love was not something you fell into (like a hole) but something you grew into (like a garment). Falling in love is overrated, but meeting that person you want to spend the rest of your life with and growing in love with him is magnificent. Marriage is a Divine institution created by G-d to give us a picture of true unity (Read Yeshua's beautiful prayer in John 17:22 ff.) as two become one, and also to show Yeshua's relationship to His people and how He loves us. It should be a godly relationship with the purpose of honoring G-d's design for marriage and for the purpose of ministry. My husband and I have very similar callings in ministry, and that is what ultimately brought us together by G-d's sovereignty.

I loved every moment of preparing for our wedding day and I love every moment of being married for over two years now. Nevertheless, I can't help but wonder what love feels like after 30 or 40 years together. That undying love that many waters cannot quench (Song of Songs 8:7), that love that is as strong as death (8:6). It is our tradition to read Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) on each anniversary as we did on our wedding night. I can't wait to read it on our 40th anniversary... B"H