This Friday is a very special day, not because it’s Skywatch Friday and I don’t have an appropriate image for the occasion, but because my wife and I will be celebrating our forty-fourth wedding anniversary.

A lot of things have changed in forty-four years.

I shaved my mustache, cut my hair and got a lot older. My wife just got better looking.

The family now includes our daughter, son-in-law, and four grandchildren. Later this year a grand-son-in-law will be added. The oldest granddaughter is getting married in November.

In this day and age when half of all marriages fail within the first ten years, one might ask,  “What is the secret to a long and happy marriage relationship?” The truth is that there is no secret or magic bullet. It is hard work and commitment to each other. There will be good days and bad days but there is always the next day. If there is any one thing that can hold a couple together through all of the things that life will throw at them, it is a common faith in Christ. All I can tell you is that the message from God’s Word is critical to the happiness that each of us enjoys.

First of all, God loves us and everything He does for us is for our benefit. He created the institution of marriage to be enjoyed by a man and a woman and to bring each of them happiness. The Bible tells us that God loved us so much that He gave His Son to die on a cross for us so that we might, through faith have eternal life. Christ tells the husband that he is to love his wife with the same love that Christ loved the church and gave Himself for that church (Ephesians 5:25) If I love my wife with that kind of love, then everything I do is because I love heer and I want her to be happy. I want my Lord to be pleased with me as a man who loves his wife and realizes that his wife is a gift from God created especially for me and my happiness.

Secondly, marriage is a partnership. Like any partnership, it takes work to maintain that relationship in peak condition. A happy marriage doesn’t just happen. bot of us are committed to the relationship and to each other because we love one another and it is our desire that our partner be happy in this relationship. No major decision in this partnership is made without prayer and conversation. god is not the author of confusion, therefore He will not give my wife a different answer to any issue than the one He gives me. Again, Go created the institution of marriage for our benefit, not for our demise.

Finally, I married a woman far better than I deserve. I thank my Lord for her every day. My wife is the most thoughtful, caring and giving person that I know. Proverbs 31:10-12 says, “An excellent wife, who can find” For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.” I have found that woman. Furthermore, Proverbs 31:25-30 states, “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and bless her, her husband also, and he praises her, saying: Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” I married such a woman. So, back to the question, “What’s the secret?” The answer is, you have to give yourself to the marriage. You have to give yourself to your spouse. Whatever you have within you, “Give it Away”.

Note: This year we will not be celebrating our anniversary nor Mother’s Day in the traditional manner. Instead we will be traveling to see our oldest granddaughter graduate from college. She has her degree in elementary education. Her last semester she achieved a 4.0 grade point and she has completed her student teaching and passed her board exams. She even has her first job offer. Life is good.