{"id":8018,"date":"2012-04-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.familylife.com\/flministries\/?p=8018"},"modified":"2012-04-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-11T00:00:00","slug":"enjoy-life-with-the-woman-whom-you-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/articles\/topics\/marriage\/staying-married\/commitment\/enjoy-life-with-the-woman-whom-you-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Enjoy Life With the Woman Whom You Love"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

This is my favorite time of year in central Arkansas\u2014with the warm days and cool nights, the low humidity, and the changing leaves.  As I write these words the trees are bursting in color\u2014more than normal, I think. One tree, in particular, is a favorite for me and my wife, Merry.  It\u2019s a maple tree across the street, and we mark autumn each year by the arrival of its brilliant reddish-orange leaves.  I took this picture last week when some green still remained in the tree; by the time you read these words it will be fully transformed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told Merry that I was going to write about the tree, and she launched into a fanciful speculation on how I would compare it to marriage:  \u201cCouples think marriage is going to be beautiful and colorful \u2026 and then it begins to fall off the branch \u2026 and it\u2019s swept away in the wind \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was impressed by her flight of metaphorical imagination, but I was thinking of something more positive … and simple. This tree is something we enjoy together<\/em>.  We enjoy talking about it.  We enjoy the way it greets us with a blaze of color when we open our front door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ecclesiastes 9:9 tells me to \u201cEnjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.\u201d  When I think of enjoying life with Merry, I think of the small, simple things we share together\u2014things like that tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think of the little jokes and remarks that we resurrect on a regular basis\u2014the things that aren\u2019t funny to anyone but us.  When we\u2019re on a long drive, for example, I\u2019ll make a big show out of turning on the car\u2019s cruise control\u2014and she knows I\u2019m referring to discussions from 20 years ago about our old cars which didn\u2019t have that feature.  I will point to bales of hay in a field and grunt, and she knows I\u2019m reviving that dumb old joke she told me early in our marriage:  \u201cDo you know why bales of hay should be square and not round?  So that cows can get a square meal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merry and I were talking the other day about the adjustments that newly-married couples face when they return from the honeymoon and begin learning how to live with each other\u2014day after day, week after week.  Inevitably you find things you don\u2019t like about each other\u2014irritating little habits and personality quirks.  But if you can get past that, these irritations are replaced by the unexpected little pleasures of sharing life together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s eating together at a favorite restaurant, or having breakfast at dinnertime.  It\u2019s lying on the couch together at night, watching favorite television shows or romantic movies or old British mysteries.  It\u2019s walking together at Maumelle Park, or across the pedestrian footbridge that spans the Arkansas River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s coming across a photo of our daughter Bethany as a baby and showing it to Merry with the question, \u201cRemember this little Inky Dink?\u201d  (My mother gave Bethany that nickname because she was so small during her first few months.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s looking forward to seeing our other daughter, Missy, when she comes home from college \u2026 and sharing tears when she leaves again \u2026 and then settling back into a nice empty-nest rhythm that we have found surprisingly satisfying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the favorite old ornaments on the Christmas tree, and the favorite cookies that we bake during the holidays.  It\u2019s the photos I display on our computer\u2019s screensaver of past vacations and special events.  It\u2019s laughing with our daughters about the time I accidentally sprayed mustard all over my face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the little things that build a relationship\u2014the little things that remind me how much I enjoy life with the woman whom God has given me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 2008 by FamilyLife. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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