Great Faith!

I know that in the grand scheme of things it's not a very long time.  But fifty years, for me, is practically a lifetime.  

Fifty years ago I was barely two.  My parents had a mortgage payment of $116 and talked on a party line.  Fifty years ago no one saw Dallas coming and 9-1-1 wasn't even a distress call yet, let alone a date gone down in infamy.  Fifty years ago the Beatles were just warming up and there were, as yet, no footprints on the moon.

Not long ago, as we waited on line for our marriage license, my partner and I met a couple.  They'd been together for fifty years.  In that fifty years they'd shared a life together.  They'd seen it all, lived it all, celebrated it all.  They could finish each others' sentences like any couple together for so long.  But unlike many other couples, this was the first time George and Manny had the opportunity to "make it legal."

You know, I've met a lot of couples in my time.  But meeting George and Manny, I really had to stop and think about faithfulness.  From where does that kind of enduring love come?  From where does the faith to stick with someone through thick and thin--in sickness and in health--come?  

A lot has changed in fifty years, that's for sure!  But one thing stays the same.  The Spirit of faithfulness continues to draw people together in the bonds of love.

That's for sure too.