3,650

3,650 days.
10 years.
1 decade.
2 people.
young. oblivious. hopeful. hopelessly in love.
Stood before one hundred family and friends and promised to hold onto each other.
to love each other.
to love God.

Fast forward a full decade.
The sun has risen and set more than three thousand times.
Sunsets followed joy filled days and others were embraced knowing the day was over and a new one would bring a new beginning.
There has been laughter....laughter through tears and laughter that brought tears.
There has been tears...babies and their first cries...babies that made their Mama cry.
There has been pain...bones broken, power tool accidents, scraped knees and hot words spoken in anger.
There are new smile lines and aching muscles.
There have been mistakes.
There has been forgiveness.
There has been miles driven and destinations reached. Photos taken and milestones passed.
There has been diplomas earned and dollars returned.
There has been the unexpected and the expected...the nights spent in prayer and the nights spent under the stars.
We have raced...we have won...we have surrendered...we have held on.
We have held on to the the hope that Christ is glorified not through the illusion of perfection but through two people, daily making a choice to love Him first and to love others well...starting with one another.
In an earthly sense, we were destined to fail,
but we held onto the promise that if God is for us, who can be against us?
We remember that we have been forgiven and therefore we are called to forgive.

"For where you go I will go,

and where you live I will live.

Your people will be my people, and your God my God.

Where you die I will die and there I will be buried. 

May the Lord deal with me ever so severely if anything but death separates you and me."

Ruth 1:16b-17

Thank you for being my Beloved. 
Thank you for loving me as Christ has loved the Church and gave Himself up for her. 
I love you but I love God more. It is beacuse of that love for Christ, that my love for you continues to grow. I love the man that you are and I love the man you are becomming. 
Thank you for joining me on this journey of life and love. 
I am crazy about you. 
Yours eternally. 

<><tce