Endurance

I remember that warm late-spring day just before my wedding all those years ago, sitting on the hill next to the clothes line with my mom. We sat next to the clothes basket that held the clean laundry she had just taken off the line. She was passing along wisdom regarding marriage and that there would be days in my married life when I just felt like up and running away. I thought she was crazy. I never saw her argue openly with my dad and I was shocked to hear that she must have thought that way at least once in her marriage. She said no matter how much you love 'em, there will be those days when it's just really hard. I heard her words and maybe I nodded out of respect, but I remember my mind was thinking, "No way, mom, that won't happen to me."

Duh.

Not only have there been days where I wanted to up and run away, there came a day when I actually did! Thankfully, after much repentance, redemption and reconciliation, I ran back down the aisle and recommitted my life to my husband.

Mom's been married to the same man for over sixty years. She's been the sole cook, laundress, house-keeper, shopper, toilet scrubber, dish washer, she starched her linens, taught five kids manners, always put her husband over her children and kept silent many times when I'm sure she wanted to lash out at her man. She sweat in the hot sun, tending to farm and garden chores next to her beloved, cried on his shoulder, kept constant vigilance by his side during heart surgeries and cancer treatments, believed in him and she's held on tightly to his hand all these years - even during those times when she must have felt like "up and running."

I don't know if dad ever knew that mom had "those days." I'm pretty certain he had his own but we never knew it.

Dad has worked harder than any human I've ever known. He's also loved and cared for his wife more tenderly than any man I've known. Medically speaking, dad shouldn't be alive, although his days are certainly numbered, his greatest fear is leaving "her" alone.

Through sixty years of doing life together - all the trials, tears, frustrations, babies, illnesses, teenagers, bills, the long hours during planting and harvest, the phone calls in the middle of the night, disappointments and the joys....they endured, as one flesh.

Sitting on the hillside, just above the clothesline that day, mom's hands were still fairly youthful. They weren't yet misshapen from arthritis, not too many age or sun spots. They were still strong.

In their fragility and age-worn adornment, mom and dad's hands look a lot different now. If you look closely, those hands hold a beautiful message - one of grace, endearing commitment and love.

This is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Genesis 2:24