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Posted by: Tim McNabb	8/14/2008 10:50 AM
Tuesday, August 12th marked my 20th wedding anniversary. I have been gleefully quipping that if I had killed a man, I'd be getting out this week, but I want to make sure folks know how much I believe that only a God who loves me dearly could have afforded me the privilege of being Gemey's husband. My gift from her was a lovely photo of she and I at our wedding. She is every bit as lovely now as then. I have not fared so well. She gave me the picture just before going off to put on her "red dress" for our night out. This gave me time to stare at the photo of my wife and the stranger holding her. In the lovely, comfortable suite I had reserved for the occasion I found myself reflecting on our lives together. I found myself dwelling on our earlier years. Hand to heart, I have no idea what Gemey saw in the man in the picture. I know that guy is me, and I know what I was back then. I know I was an incandescent, idiotic wreck. My love for my new wife was real, but knowing now what it takes to be a good husband I recognize painfully how badly equipped that man was to make that love meaningful and practical. I'm kind of unloading on myself here, and perhaps that is a pathology that could use a little exploring with a good therapist, but my real purpose is to explain how important faith is to a marriage. Not just faith, but the object of your faith. The Man In The Picture had very little going for him. I had very little faith in myself. I was fresh out of an unremarkable stint in the Army. I was skilled in very little other than some passing familiarity with carpentry and desktop publishing. If my emotional baggage could have been made visible, it would look like the luggage carousel at Stapleton during Thanksgiving. In my assets column were one thing - I did believe in God and trusted in His Son as my savior. Scripture is replete in promises made to God's children. He does not promise wealth, ease or comfort. He promises to provide enough, a burden you can bear, and to comfort you in your affliction. On paper this may not seem like much but I can tell you now that two decades have passed beneath my increasingly tired feet that it is so very much indeed. I feel that the Father has placed me in the forge, place me against an anvil and hammered relentlessly to shape me into something altogether not the man in the photo. I know that He is not finished, and the man in the pictures taken Tuesday night will not be all that impressive to the man who looks at it 20 years from now. That's OK by me, my wife deserves nothing less.
Copyright ©2008 Tim McNabb
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