Do you ever go back and remember some of the great stories of your life by trying to repeat them?  Many, many years ago (YES, WE WERE YOUNG THEN, WE KNOW THAT!), my husband and I used to do some fishing.  About four years ago I told him, “I want to go ‘catchin’” (I’m not as patient as I once was, and really just want that fish, small or large, on the end of my pole, cane or some newfangled titanium carbon hybrid (yes, I made that up:)).  We were at the beach with our family, and he kindly arranged an inshore fishing trip for us.  Sadly, a hurricane off the coast encroached.  I insisted, “But, it’s sunny outside — we can still go, can’t we?”  (I’m not always reasonable when I have something in my mind I want to do.  See, this is what I meant yesterday when I said it’s amazing he has patiently put up with me for 28 years!).  He was firm, and then they evacuated the boats anyway, so I let it go.  (Hmmm, you think maybe he was right?)  Two weeks later, I blew out my right shoulder in a tennis tournament and gone were all dreams of going ‘catchin” for the next two years.  (I REALLY blew it out and it took two surgeries and long rehabs to get it right.)

This morning, I received an email from my husband.  He wanted to know if I would like to do some inshore fishing this weekend when we celebrate our anniversary.  He had the courtesy to ask because right now my “good” shoulder is struggling a little bit, and he wanted to make sure I felt like it.  My response:  BOY DO I!  And I remember, for one of our early anniversaries, we went to Destin for the very first time, and went deep-sea fishing with about 100 other people.  I don’t even know if I caught anything.  But it was a blast.

This time we’ll be aware of the oil that lurks in the Gulf.  This time, neither one of my shoulders will work as well as they did 28 years ago.  If I catch anything, I may have to let my husband help me pull it in (another sign of redemption of my determined independence!).  But I don’t care.  We’ll be fishing.  And there’s not a hurricane anywhere near us right now.

“What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” Matthew 19:6

I spent the first five years of my marriage waiting to be divorced.  Like I would just wake up one day and be divorced.  This despite the fact that my husband and I got along very well and showed no real signs of trouble in those first five years.  But as a child of divorce, I think in some weird faulty wiring of my heart, I feared I was doomed.

As I know, the painful split of divorce does happen.  And so, as my husband and I celebrate 28 years of “loving and hating one another well” on Saturday, I am not gloating, but wondering.  Wondering at the mercy of Jesus, who I see in this photo, bringing us together and holding us together, despite our numerous failed attempts to tear each other apart.

Don’t get me wrong, there have been far more sweet seasons than hard ones, but the hard ones could have so easily taken us down.  We are two glorious children of God who brought such a heavy sinload of baggage into our marriage that these days it would be too expensive to fly.  And yet, somehow, our covenantal, committed God, has pursued our hearts, and our marriage had not only survived but thrived.

People have asked me this week, “How does it feel to be celebrating 28?”  My answer, HUMBLING.  I am in awe as I remember. His many wonderful mercies.  His penetrating kindness.  His redemption.  This weekend we will tell really good stories.  And they won’t all be as pretty as this picture.  But, like this picture, they will all reveal Christ bringing together what we and others might have easily torn apart.

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know I return frequently to Matthew 11:29-30, because I struggle most with this concept of resting in Christ and taking his yoke, not my own or others.  I found this at a favorite blog:  Gospel Paradox by Pastor Andy Lewis…here’s an excerpt:

God says in Matthew 11:29-30 “Take my yoke upon you for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.”

These gospel words have given me peace. It reminds me that I must work but Christ calls me to work the correct way. The preceding verse calls me to come to him with all of the things that are weighing on me…what I think the day should look like, what I feel should be accomplished, how I hope people will respond, what needs to be done on my to do list…when it says “come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”

But then the following verses of 29 – 30 remind me that when I give him my burden he gives me his yoke. Here is the difference, his yoke fits me perfectly. And Jesus is not a slave driver – he is “gentle and humble in heart” and through following him we “find rest for our souls” Oh the mellowing effects of putting the gospel deep in our lives!!!

Father, whatever comes my way today remind me that it comes from the hand of a sovereign, loving God who is gentle and humble. Let me rest and relax, even as I work, in the truth of your yoke rather than the burdens I or others put on my back. May I be satisfied today with pleasing you above all others. Amen and Amen.