This weekend past Jane and I completed 35 years of marriage. 35 years of marriage is more than half my life. I’ve been married longer than I’ve been not married.
I am married to my best friend.
Over the course of 35 years Jane has become a part of who I am. She is my right and left hand. The rhythms and seasons of doing life together for 35 years has drawn us together as one.
What began as a vow has become reality. How did this happen? God’s grace.
We celebrated our 35 anniversary with a long-weekend “staycation”.
We spent time at the Ashland Balloon Fest, did a mini local winery tour, explored a couple small towns we’d not been to, hiked a rails-trails, picked blueberries, kidnapped our 18 month old twin granddaughters for a tour of Kingwood Center, saw a movie at the Ashland Theater, and concluded the weekend at one of our favorite local restaurants.
We did the “staycation” to save money…and wound up having a very memorable 35th anniversary.
I remember when Jane and I were engaged we talked about how we could make almost anything into a fun time. When you marry your best friend that happens.
I’ve read that what helps couples grow together is not the big things like expensive trips or expensive jewelry, but everyday acts of kindness, compliments, and expressions of appreciation. Things like showing daily gratitude for your partner, acts of service, simple physical touch like holding hands or hugs, conversation, and expressing support and encouragement. I can’t say I’m the best with all of this but both of us certainly try. And it works.
I am so grateful to be blessed with a life-long covenant partner to walk this past 35 year journey with and pray for many more anniversaries.

I am realizing  that I am living my life in such a hurry that often I miss the blessing right in front of me.

What brought this awareness to my attention was an experience this past Saturday. Jane and Krista were taking a short weekend trip to Lancaster Pennsylvania. Krista was going to a friend’s wedding and Jane was going to spend time with her best friend from high school.  My job was to get them to and from the airport. I had driven to Jane’s dad’s house in Pittsburgh Friday night so that we could have a short drive on to the Pittsburgh airport for their early flight on Saturday. It was a brief night because we stayed up talking.  Though we were all sleepy, we got to the airport on time. I dropped Jane and  Krista off and started home. I was using my GPS to be alerted of any traffic snarls. The GPS started a little different route than usual which I initially didn’t think much of as I assumed it had picked up on some slowdowns.  The route it took me however, wound up being extremely rural and very different from any way I had come home or went to the airport before. I was on a two lane state highway, a county and some township roads. In the end it added only about 20 minutes to my trip.  I went through little towns in Ohio I had never seen before. It actually was quite interesting.

Though the route was scenic, it had few opportunities for a bathroom stop. Now mind you, I am a sleepy, filled with three cups of coffee, 58 year old male.  Two and a half hours without a comfort stop is not an easy task. So by the time I got about five miles from home I couldn’t take it anymore and I had to pull into a gas station to use the restroom. I was mulling over this trip and trying to figure out why in the world my GPS took me on such a bucolic route? 

When I came out of the gas station, got in my car and pulled back on the road I looked up and there was a broad, bold, bright rainbow. Very quickly the Spirit of The Creator spoke into my mind and said “I took you that way just because it was different and to let you enjoy the scenery in the towns and countryside that you’ve never seen before.” 

So here I was stressing most of the way.  Though I enjoyed the ride I could have enjoyed it much more. I kept  trying to figure out why my GPS did this, where I was going to stop to use the restroom, and where I was going to get a sandwich for breakfast.

All along the drive I’d been praying and repeating, “God this must be your will for me to go this way because it is so strange (especially when I veered off into some Township roads).”  

Lesson learned:

God had been listening to my prayers. He gave me a rainbow to remind me that not every twist and turn in our life is for some major reason or some jolting spiritual teaching.  Sometimes it is just simply to give us something different to enjoy. It is to help us rest, relax and be at peace for a while. 

Thank you God for your blessing and for teaching me to be quiet, rest and enjoy the scenery.

I have had the privilege of having a few co-workers who are in their 70s. That generation are members of the demographic known as traditionalists and are some of the best team members I have ever had. They bring a steadiness and stability to the work environment. They are characterized by,

• showing up for work early,
• staying until their shift is over,
• rarely using sick time (they don’t see having a head ache as a reason to stay home),
• following the chain of command,
• bringing no drama to the work environment,
• and taking pride in working hard.

Most people in their 70s have retired. But the few I’ve worked with stay in the workforce because they want to. They have a skill set, years of experience, and a desire to do something they consider meaningful with their time. I have been enriched by them. Not only have they taught me about work, but even more so, about how to approach living. They have shaped my view of having a “mission” in life.

As I move through my 50s, my perspective of how to approach the next several years God gives me is being informed by my septuagenarian co-workers. I pray I can have as positive and meaningful impact on the people around me as they do. Life is a marathon not a sprint. By God’s grace I want to ready myself, like my 70 year old co-workers, for an impactful long run.

There is more going on than meets the eye.
We have been written into an ancient story, an ancient plan.
You [son and daughter] are worth more than silver or gold.
The Creator bought you back at the highest cost.
You have royal blood.
That is who you are.

“We must picture hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives with the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment .”(C.S. Lewis, Screwtape  Letters  Illustrated. p. 231)

Let us strive for much better.
Consider others as better than ourselves.
Practice self-forgetting.
Pursue The Creator.

​To say hate is a person, a group or a particular party is to vastly underestimate hate. Hate is stealth. Hate dresses up and goes by other names. 

When you’re put in a difficult situation and are given the opportunity to do the right thing, do it.

Today I had an opportunity to reflect on the blessing of having co-workers who have my back. Thank you Lord.