In another six weeks, Janet and I will celebrate our 52nd anniversary. Furthermore, we will have known each other for something like 66 years – since we were little kids. You’d think by this time that we would know everything there is to know about one another. But that’s not the case – not by a long shot.
You see, our relationship continues to grow. I’ve never seen anything like it. We never run out of things to say and Janet even lets me know from time to time that I have told her a new story that she hasn’t ever heard before. You would think that I’ve told every story – we’ve seen each other in every conceivable situation and there isn’t anything else to experience. But no!
As we continue to grow older together, we face new challenges head on. In this part of our lives, some of them are health related. Lately, we have also been discussing issues of retirement and how we will live the next season of our life together. We always thought that we would have a second home, perhaps in Florida, and probably thought that we would travel more than we do. But as we age, we find that we enjoy being at home, I still enjoy some part time work, (primarily to stay busy and relevant in the corporate world) and I still lead two Bible studies each week. This is my main devotional time and I have the added thrill of teaching others about the Bible and how to build a closer relationship with Christ.
And I continue to be amazed how Janet and I still speak into the lives of other family members. But tonight’s post isn’t about the rest of the family. Selfishly, it’s about how Janet and I continue to grow and love each other even more as the years go by. Janet is still growing on me; and I tell her this almost every day. In fact, it seems to defy logic! And you know what? Janet feels the same way about our relationship as I do. Neither of us can imagine life without the other. It’s great to grow old together. I hope that we are a great influence on our children and grandchildren.
A number of our conversations center around discussing old times; there is comfort in that – when I used to cut the grass for Janet’s Dad (for $1 a week). Or some of the friends that we had in elementary school. Or my future father in law coming over to talk with Dad or asking me what the latest fashions were from my work in a men’s clothing store during my high school years. Most people don’t realize that Janet and I go back a really long way. Our folks were best friends, we attended the same church, our fathers started their own companies a year apart, our folks were in the same Sunday school class and our parents spent every New Year’s Eve together. I even remember that my mother cooked Chicken Oriental and then Cherries Jubilee for dessert. As an aside, it was the only day of the year that my brothers and I were allowed to have soft drinks. Otherwise, they were never allowed in our home.
In fact, we came from incredibly similar families. We lived four or five blocks part and knew many of the same people. We even shopped at the same grocery store, went to the same gas stations and voted the same way. In fact, my Dad used to play chess with Janet’s grandfather. Talk about a small world!
As I remember the decades that have passed by, and the ever changing landscape of our relationship as we enter these different seasons of our lives, I can’t help but be reminded that our relationship with Christ should operate the same way.
As we spend our life with Jesus, we should enter into a deeper relationship with Him and have a deeper understanding of who He is. We should become ever more comfortable bringing serious issues to Him in prayer and pour our hearts out when we hurt or are celebrating. God cares about these things… Because if we think our human lives are complicated and defy logic, how much more can we learn from spending decades with the Creator of everything. There is an endless wealth of information about God, as well as our relationship with God, that will take us safely into eternity with Him.
The key is for us to become more like Jesus as we age and become more mature in our faith. While God knows everything about us, we can never learn everything about Him. Frankly, having no beginning and no end, there is no possible way that we can fathom the depth of our Father and His Son.
The prophet Jeremiah was fortunate enough to hear directly from the Lord. We are told the story in the book of Jeremiah. Verse Jeremiah 33:1-3, our verse for tonight, recounts, “While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: “This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’” If Janet and I can still regale each other with stories after 66 years, can you even imagine how much we can learn about God in eternity?
My encouragement this evening is that the world, including heaven, is filled with unimaginable things that are so wondrous we can only hope and pray that God will illuminate us as He sees fit. My prayer is that while we are on the earth, we will all say in earnest, “Lord, you’re still growing on me…” Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…