This month Carolyn and I celebrate forty years of wedded bliss! I remember well the day of our wedding. It was a typically hot and humid Chicago day. The photography session took longer than the ceremony. The ceremony began with the grand entrance. Carolyn was (and is) beautiful. We sang, we prayed, we heard Scripture read, we looked fondly into each other’s eyes and we vowed to be husband /or/ wife to each other. Then we greeted the sanctuary full of wonderful family and friends. We enjoyed a feast prepared by the women of the church. There were toasts and there was the tinkling of glasses.
In the past few years my Father and both of her parents have gone to be with the Lord. Their marriages lasted fifty-five plus and sixty plus years. Their legacy inspired and inspires our commitment and has served as an example to our four children who are all married and having or will be having children of their own. We now have four grandsons and two granddaughters, with a third granddaughter on the way! It is our hope that our own faithful and fruitful marriage will serve as a template to them.
In this spring-summer wedding season of the year, may the Lord bless the marriages of our nation with a commitment that endures the hardships and perseveres to the riches of married life.
Pastor Tim Cartwright