Wednesday, November 14, 2012

A Different Take on Marriage



As I drive to work each morning, this particular billboard in East Memphis always captures my attention:


The message intended here is - if you love your wife, you will buy her the nicest jewelry from this particular diamond broker.  I have certainly benefited from JD's generosity over the years and own several pieces of nice jewelry.  But, for those of us who have been married longer than ten minutes, we can tell you what love looks like.  Love doesn't come in a small extravagant box, in a larger than necessary house, or in a fancy vehicle.  This is what real love looks like:



I don't know who this guy is, but you get the point.  Real love is lending a hand around the house without being asked, wanting to help out.  It's being on your hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floor after flying in from a long business trip because you don't want your pregnant wife to hurt her back.  It's setting up a weekly Wednesday appointment on your busy calendar to remind yourself to go home to let the dog outside and feed him, because I will be at school all day and you know that I worry about the dog.

Real love is sending your mother-in-law flowers because she is having a tough day, without me even knowing about it.  It's spending an exorbitant amount of time discussing the differences between coral and salmon pink, all without rolling your eyes.  Shiny trinkets can be lost, homes can burn to the ground, and fancy cars can stop working.  But, having a love that is mutually respectful is what keeps a marriage on a strong foundation so that when we face insurmountable situations, we turn to each other for support and not other people.

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