Redefine Your Roses

We are celebrating forty-three years of marriage. All you math people stop it. Just stop. It is a long time, that’s the point.

I have spent forty-three years trying to figure out that “man that God gave me.” I do not think the same way he does. We see things differently. His reactions contrast mine and for the life of me, I can’t get him to change. I simply cannot get him to be more like me.

Because really in this gender confused world, if the struggle is about creating another like ourselves, it’s not a great goal.

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Gen. 1:27, (NKJV).

Thank God my husband is 360 degrees opposite. He is a man. And I like him that way.

He likes loud. I like quiet.

He enjoys technology. I am pretty sure it is the anti-christ.

He never stops. My energy level died about twenty years ago. I am now working on a deficit.

I recognize how much it parallels with my relationship to God. And I realize with utter shame how often I want God to respond like me, to be like me, and I actually get upset when He isn’t or doesn’t. Sometimes, I expect Him to act and think like I do. I whine, “God I don’t understand” like a child who squirms wanting to get his own way, or a wife who stomps her foot with her hands on her hips.

I don’t want to lower God to my level, and neither do I desire my husband to become someone God did not create him to be.

Sometimes a woman just has to redefine her roses.

• A cappuccino is a rose in my bouquet.
• A car filled with gas.
• My microwave handle fixed.
• The picture hung.
• Grass mowed.
• And, meat on the grill.

I am grateful for this man that God gave me. For the steady walk with Jesus he has modeled, for the solid demonstration of love and care, and for his unswerving commitment and faithfulness. For forty-three years.

He completes me in ways I had no idea I needed or wanted.

His reasoning balances my fears, emotions, and impulses, and he can be absolutely irritating in his logic.

The fact that he sees things vastly different is a protection and guide.

He offers wisdom and discernment.

The gap between male and female, husband and wife is part of wedding bliss challenge. In the next forty-three years, (I told you not to do the math) I want to celebrate the irreconcilable differences of one man and one woman ordained by God in this thing called holy matrimony.

And now if you’ll excuse me, it’s man-rose time. We’re heading to Home Depot.

“…male and female He created them.” Gen. 1:27, (NKJV).

Photo by Philip Schroeder on Unsplash