Thanksgiving 2025 is in the books, including my 53rd year of cooking the turkey – my 13th with our son, Andrew, ably assisting me. I realize how blessed our family for all of us live within 10 minutes of each other and we realize that all of us have chosen to do life together. How rare in today’s world. It reminded me of how special our family is to me and I began to once again reminisce about how it all came to be. Who would have thought it would become something so very important to all of us. I even thought about something that happened earlier this week.
Several days ago I ran across a FaceBook post that intrigued me. A music scholar who was explaining all the harmony, instruments, vocals and percussion that were used to record, “We’ve Only Just Begun.” The song was written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols; and was originally considered for a commercial before Richard Carpenter heard it and asked to record the song. It was sung by Karen Carpenter and released in August, 1970; it became the first major hit for Karen and Richard Carpenter. Three years later, when Janet and I were married, we chose this song to be the first one played at our reception hosted at Beverly Country Club near our homes on the south side of Chicago. It was clearly our favorite song.
As I was listening to the fascinating historical look at the creation of this famous song, I was swept back more than 52 years ago to when we were married. I don’t imagine that Janet and I could have ever predicted how our lives would twist and turn throughout the decades. I remember dancing to the words, “We’ve only just begun, to live, white lace and promises – a kiss for luck and we’re on our way… we’ve only begun…”
The following verses were just as exciting and still resonate with both of us:
Janet and I have both been blessed to have found the perfect partner. And when we started out we had dreams like so many other couples in love. Having three children, buying our first home, loving each other endlessly, sharing horizons that were new to us, wondering what was around the next corner, working together, being singularly dedicated to each other – with so much of our life ahead. When I replay our lives together, I remember the triumphs, the setbacks, starting companies, attending seminary, the death of our parents; and through it all, the idea that we had a long life ahead of us, filled with excitement!
I admit that I am a nostalgic guy. Especially during this season, starting with Thanksgiving and going through the end of the year. In fact, December 24th, Janet and I will celebrate the 53rd anniversary of our engagement on Christmas Eve back in 1972. The greatest joy, other than our love of God, has been the blessing of a wonderful family – three children, four grandchildren and two son-in-laws who all live within minutes of our home. Every holiday is a celebration together – as the years have progressed, hosting duties have changed a little, and there are the requisite allowances made for the requirements of a ministerial life during the Advent season.
I still tell stories of the early years whenever we get together and we have instilled several core values in our younger generations. The two tenets we live by are that no matter what, nobody goes against the family and our differences make us stronger as a family. To summarize our lives, Janet and I have been blessed beyond comprehension and we owe our successes to God.
Janet and I made the decision to have our children early in our marriage. While many couples, especially today, wait many years to have children, we wanted to grow old with our children and sand spend as many years as possible with our kids. We became parents when we were in our early twenties. That has been even more of a blessing than we could have possible predicted. We would do it again in a heartbeat.
Of course, we are now a ways down this road called life. We aren’t as naive as we were back then. But we have grown and know that there are still many great things ahead of us. Sometimes, I long for those early days – when the world seemed less complicated and while we worked hard, things seemed easier. But here we are – grateful for the journey that God had in store for us.
Our verse for tonight reflects the unity that Janet and I share as husband and wife. It encompasses the idea that by going through life together, God centered couples think alike, share freely with one another, love deeply and are committed to one another like no other human relationship. At least, that is how it has been for Janet and me. The apostle Peter tells us, in his first epistle, in 1 Peter 4:8, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” This not only applies to spouses, but to entire families. We are living proof of that!
My encouragement this evening that God expects us to love one another without limitation. My prayer is that we will re-dedicate ourselves to leading and growing our marriages and families out of respect for our Heavenly Father as we start this season of Advent and remember the birth of our Savior. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…