Marriage
It was thirteen years ago, this week-February 14-that I asked Tina to be my wife. After several years of seeing each other off and on, I decided to ask her to spend her life with me. In my heart I was sure she would say what I wanted her to say, but in my mind I was frightened beyond words. I was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rockers.
I planned everything the way I wanted it to be, with the exception of two friends showing up for church that morning, tagging along to lunch and then following us to the chapel where I would show Tina the ring and make my request.
Aaron and Martha had surprised us by stopping in Fort Payne on their way home from Chattanooga to Alexander City. After the service that morning, Martha knew something was going on, so I asked her to walk out to the truck, where I showed her the ring and told her what I was going to do. She started crying right there, and then insisted we have lunch together.
We ate together at DeSoto State Park. After lunch Tina was saying goodbye to Aaron and Martha, but then invited them to join us at Howard’s Chapel so they could see the beautiful old church.
Howard’s Chapel is a stone/and wood structure, built around a huge boulder, sitting on a slight hill just off the Lookout Mountain Scenic Parkway, on the north side of DeSoto State Park. The chapel was built in memory of Sally,by her husband, Col. Milford W. Howard. His dream was to have a place of peace and reflection and on this day, as me and Tina, Aaron and Martha entered the rustic little church building it was as peaceful as could be. The old wood floors were shining, the walls warm from the service held earlier that morning, the old rock pulpit majestically situated in a crevice of the boulder; all lending a hand to the peace and power of a place erected to keeping love alive and undying affection before the eyes of all who enter into its grandeur.
Tina sat in the fourth pew on the piano side and allowed her eyes to roam over the beautiful building were I once led services as a mission pastor. Humming one of her favorite songs, she stopped to read the words, “Immortality,” which had been craved into the wooden beam above the pulpit.
Then she started softly singing “Amazing Grace” as I reached into my coat pocket to retrieve the engagement ring. She stopped singing with eyes lifted high above the pulpit to read aloud the words which were inscribed on another beam. There, boldly displayed for posterity, were the words from Sally’s last letter to Col. Howard: “God Has Always Been As Good To Me As I Would Let Him Be.”
With tears streaming down her cheeks, I knelt on the floor beside her, placed the ring on her finger and said, “Will you marry me?” It was a beautiful moment and the answer was yes, of course.
It has also been a wonderful adventure over the last twelve years. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, a huge help-meet, and a faithful friend. So, in celebration of our engagement, I found this beautiful piece written by a man named Richard Roberts:
MY WIFE
A sigh in the night . . . a smile across a room of strangers . . . a tug at a sleeve in the middle of a sad movie . . .
THIS IS MY WIFE.
She is a pair of waiting arms for a weary warrior. She repairs frayed banners torn on daily battle fields . . . she cushions defeats . . . and makes victories worthwhile . . .
THIS IS MY WIFE.
Her smile can lighten a heavy heart! She can hold a hand and lend an ear…she can blow a kiss . . . and ease a care…She can warm a cold room just by walking through the door. . .A wife is a secret-sharer . . . she has a private smile that belongs to just a husband when they both recall a fond and secret memory . . .A wife is an unpredictable creator. She can remember a word spoken in love twenty years ago . . . but can not remember to pick up the cleaning.
She is magic with a dish towel in her hands . . . romance running a vacuum cleaner . . . charm with a smudge of flour on her nose.
A pair of blue-green eyes with faith shining out . . . a head of soft hair that bounces when she runs . . . a sad pout when things go wrong.
THIS IS MY WIFE
A sweetheart through all the years of man’s life. . .a help meet when the load grows heavy . . . a friend when all other friends have turned their heads away.
THIS IS MY WIFE
Wives look beautiful in the strangest places . . . like standing in a doorway or reaching high to take a dish off the shelf . . . or straightening pillows on the sofa or tucking a child into bed . . . or standing in the rain waiting for a husband to open the car door.
When a man runs out of heart . . . a wife gives him part of hers . . . she rekindles the spark of dreams. She can make a husband young again with just a twinkle in her eye . . .She is charm, love, enchantment, hope, pride, dreams, pleasure, laughter, delight, magic, gaiety and Christian womanhood . . . all wrapped into the most beautiful woman in the world . . .
SHE'S MY WIFE. I LOVE HER.
Tina, thank you for being you! It took me ten years to learn to say the three most precious words we share now in a constant, unending way; words that mean so very much to us. These three words mean more to us than anything else and I mean them when I say them: I love you. Yes, Tina I do and always will and I thank God always for you.
Gentlemen, I implore you to do something special this week for your wife.
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