“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”  (James 4:14)

Thursday 20 September 2018.

This coming Sunday will be our 49th wedding anniversary.  That is a very long time.  We’re both still going strong, but how long will our health and strength last?  Our mortal lives may vanish away like vapour, but our marriage won’t.  We’re sealed for eternity.  What a precious blessing!

Seventy percent of our mortal lives has been spent together.  We’re in the fall of our lives, but what a beautiful fall it is!  Color is in all of our branches, the frost is in our hair, our lives have grown quiet just as the air does when the birds are gone; yet there is singing in my heart.  I am filled with joy and rejoicing.

Everything that I have, everything that I am, and  everything that I hope to be is attributable to my wife.  She it is that led me to Christ who is the Author and the Finisher of my faith.  Because of Him we are bound by covenants which will last into the eternities.  Because of Him we will be happy forever.  Because of Him our children and grandchildren are righteous and happy.  Because of Him we will experience a glorious resurrection and be together in a joyful eternity.

I owe it to my wife.  I owe it to my Savior.  I owe it to the covenants that my Redeemer enabled me to make.  He has redeemed my soul from darkness, death, and despair.  He has filled my life with light and love.  I love Him.

And I love the girl that He gave me to be my eternal companion.  He and she are my lights and my saviors.  I owe my life and my happiness to them.  Without them—both of them—I would not and could not be happy.  My life would be a waste.  Instead I look forward to a glorious future—a future of unspeakable and unimaginable joy and glory.

Forty-nine years is nearly half a century; yet it is nothing, not even a drop in the bucket, to the life and the joy that I’m anticipating.