Like Water off a duck's back...

Like Water off a duck's back...


Matt and I celebrated nineteen years of marriage this past week. Celebrated is quite an exaggeration of what we did on the date of our wedding anniversary! The funny thing is that it was okay that the day wasn't anything special. Nineteen years of ups and downs has taught me that as unfortunate as it was that a down day fell on a special date, there would be many more ups to come... and probably many more downs.

Matt and I are very different. I can literally do ten things at one time. I can cook, carry on a conversation with both a child and someone on the telephone, pay a bill online, run back and forth to do Izzy's therapy, switch out the laundry, run the list of what I need at the store over my brain, and whatever else needs to happen. Matt on the other hand... he can pretty much do one thing at a time. Period. I've come to accept this and even be okay with it. I know many husbands aren't great multi-taskers, so you probably have a one track mind guy at your house too!

I tell you all that to explain what happened to set off a bad day on our anniversary. The day before our anniversary I was driving down our road, toward home. I noticed a really fast turtle practically running across the road. I immediately thought about our church's vacation bible school next week. One evening they are having a turtle/frog race. I saw Matt park and called his cell phone from my car and had him walk down to see this speed racer turtle. He was impressed, but thought it was too long before VBS to capture him. So we left him to run away and went home. Our breaker box had an issue earlier that morning and Matt had purchased a part to fix it. He went straight to do that while I went in to get dinner on the table for him. All was well with the world.

Fast forward to the next morning. Matt has a basket to keep all his pocket stuff in when he comes home, because he loses things often! It simplifies life for all his things to be in one place. He loads up all his stuff (2 cell phones, pager, pocket tool thingie, little notebook, pen, blah blah blah) and realizes that one of his two sets of keys is missing. I jump up to help him start looking. He is getting more and more frustrated. He really hates to lose things! No keys. It's pouring down rain outside, even thundering loudly. We both look outside in his vehicle. He walks down the road where speedy was and on the other side of the house where he was working. No keys. So I took him to his office where his work vehicle was. It's only about a mile from our house.

Our anniversary up to this point had not been mentioned and while you might find it a little mean... I said, "Happy Anniversary." as I dropped him off at his office. In the rain. With no personal keys. He looked at me and I knew my words had hit the mark.

I found the keys when the rain subsided, in the grass on the side of the house. He was very happy. I ordered Matt a book he wanted and had it sent overnight so he would have it for an anniversary gift. It was "God's Master Plan." We fussed on and off that day. We didn't go out to dinner or anything special, but it was still a special day to me.

I think one of the most important things to remember when you are married to someone is that even when things are not great, or happy, or perfect...

You remember that a lot of the time they are great. That when your spouse is having a bad day and it's raining and they lose their keys... you pray for them. You pray that God will be with them and that He will guide you and help you be a loving wife in spite of circumstances. Even when it's not your favorite time of the month. Even when he didn't say the right thing. God will show up. He will smooth it over and soften your heart, and his heart. Prayer for Matt has never failed me.

Never.

Questions for reflection:

Have you had times in your married life that you prayed and God has changed your heart, and your spouse's heart?

How has prayer helped your marriage?

Annie can be found daily at her personal blogsite,