The Day Is Almost Over...

...and I have yet to celebrate it!

On this day, exactly six years ago, I married my youth minister. :D

That's what he was when I first met him, anyway!

Technically, we spent most of the day apart--Chris and Luke were camping with our church's children's ministry and I had the other two kids on layover at Grandma's house. Once we were finally all home, we were all home and that meant unpacking, playing Lego's with Luke, watching Sissy and Adam jump on the bed, and generally being exhausted. So there was not much anniversaring going on today. Even now that the kids are in bed, Chris has fallen asleep on the couch (almost an hour ago now) and I'm...well, I'm blogging or you wouldn't have anything to read!

Six years ago, Chris and I were silly in love...probably to the point that we made people sick. He was sweet and he was funny and our worlds revolved around each other. Since then, I've grown up a lot (I think...) and I have learned over and over again that neither love nor marriage will survive based solely on our feelings for each other. My husband is Godly, he is responsible, he is loving, he makes time for us, he is involved with our children, he lets me be all weird like I know I am, and he is even still goofy...a lot goofy. Because I know each of these things--and so many more--to be true, I choose this day and all the rest of my days to uphold the promise engraved on Chris's wedding band:

"...where you go, I will go, where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me." Ruth 1:16-17

Today at Grey Stone was particularly special for me simply because of a song. On the exact day of our anniversary in the sanctuary where we were married, the church choir sang "You Are" as their anthem. Why does this song matter? Because at our wedding, two dear friends of ours sang the exact same thing...and it was beautiful. Chris and I would also sing it to each other ALL the time, which was slightly less beautiful but still just as meaningful. And if I remember correctly, we stood there on the platform mouthing the words to each other as Bev and Henry serenaded our guests. The song was written as a song of devotion to the Lord, but is also rather appropriate for a couple in love, so it becomes an excellent description for the Christian couple beginning a life of dedication to each other and to God. The words are rather simple:

You are the love of my life
You are the hope that I cling to
You mean more than this world to me
I wouldn't trade you for silver or gold
I wouldn't trade you for riches untold
You are...you are my everything

Until the world stops turning
Until the clouds fade from the sky
Until the sun stops rising
I'll need you in my life
And here's the reason why

You are the love of my life...

There are times in our life now when we forget what it once meant to us to just be in the same room. And we have so many more things to distract us from the love and beauty we saw in each other from the beginning. But this song is still a central truth to our marriage--Chris is everything God intended for me to have in a husband; there is nothing in the world I would trade for him; and because God has knit us together there will never be a day that I live when I will not need my husband.

He is, after all, my favorite sp'ub.