Date night

9:56 p.m. Today's project was to enjoy a nice evening to wrap up a less-than-enjoyable week. What with the memorial service for my brother-in-law Larry earlier this week, getting a cold, and having to miss out on serving the widows at their annual Christmas dinner at church, it was time for a fun night out! Hallmark channel movies are sweet and sentimental, but I'd rather be living my life with my own Beloved than watching actors any day!

Before Steve and I left for Downtown Riverside's Mission Inn, our daughter's fiance Pavel came over to go to escort her to Calvary Moreno Valley's Young Adult Christmas dinner. Heidi wasn't quite ready, so we asked Pavel to check out a 7-year-old laptop computer. I had found it too heavy to carry around, had then given it to second son Kriss, who then purchased a Mac, and left this Dell PC in a closet here at home. The computer was still good, so we'll work on connecting it to our wireless network later.

As the three of us were visiting, Heidi stepped downstairs in her new Christmas dress (that she made me swear not to describe to Pavel, as if I would!) and I managed to capture Pavel's reaction to seeing her in it the first time!

Amazed? Smitten? Bowled over? Whatever word you choose, it was the perfect reaction a young man should have to his lovely bride-to-be; and the perfect reaction a man should have to his lovely wife of few or many years! God's plan for thrilling love between a man and the woman He has selected for him should never diminish!

In fact, Steve and I have found love more exciting with every passing decade--good things come to those who wait--to those who actively nurture their marital relationship.

Proverbs 5:15-19 says, NLT,

Drink water from your own well--

share your love only with your wife.

Why spill the water of your springs in

the streets,

having sex with just anyone?

You should reserve it for yourselves.

Never share it with strangers.

Let your wife be a fountain of blessing

for you.

Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

She is a loving deer, a graceful doe.

Let her breasts satisfy you always.

May you always be captivated by your love.

When I watch my daughter Heather and son-in-law Nick holding hands and so proud of being married 2 years; read Kriss' raves on Facebook about his wife cooking the "best food I've ever eaten;" and watch Heidi and Pavel building their life and ministry together on the way to the altar, I know that God's Word is true, and His promises are real! Do it His way, marry for life, and God will graciously see a man and woman through every challenge and responsibility, with rewards and joy you never thought possible. The children who result will indeed be the icing on the cake, over and above your already abundant life!

In Isaiah 1:19 God says to His people, "If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land." Let's be willing and obedient, honor our marriages, and enjoy God's richest blessings!