.jpg)
Welcome to Tuesday! Today is a very special day here at Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! This particular Tuesday can only be eclipsed, (wait, that was yesterday....are we still here?), by one other thing. Last year the date fell very close to that one thing and The Notes made reference to it...
But this year...Tuesday and our anniversary fall on the same day!!! (insert uproarious sound effects here)
So...here...we...go...
From this day 31 years ago...
To this about 20 years ago...
To this year...
The most recent incarnation of the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time has The Carpenters #2 smash from 1970 listed at #414. The song originated was found in a Crocker National Bank commercial. Crocker National - "We've Only Just Begun" Roger Nichols and Paul Williams wrote the wedding themed jingle. It was later that year heard by Richard Carpenter. Williams and Carpenter were both on contract with A&M records at the time. After further rewriting by Williams, including a bridge and verse not heard in the commercial, Richard Carpenter placed the song on the 1970 album Close To You, the second full length album by The Carpenters. "We've Only Just Begun" followed the #1 title track as the 2nd single from the album to be released. It peaked at #2 on the charts and helped the brother-sister duo win 2 of 1971's Grammy's for Best New Artist (The Carpenters), and Best Contemporary Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus ("Close To You").
Much has happened in the 47 years since this song was released. Your humble blogger was just 6 and his beautiful wife was just 3. We didn't know each other in 1970. The distance from Bald Knob, Arkansas (yes, that's my hometown) and Hot Springs, Arkansas (her hometown) seemed like light years in the eyes of children of the 70's.
Fortunately, for us, the world got much smaller as we got older. The distance between Fayetteville (my collegiate home and eventually hers as well) and Hot Springs was a couple hours longer, yet in 1985 (the year we met) terms, it seemed only a short hop down the mountain to Hot Springs. So many roads to choose...
Time also got faster as it seems that only yesterday it was 1986 and we were those kids from the first picture. (Tammy says that she feels every year of it...not sure what she means by that...) Much has happened in that seemingly short period of time. We are on the 6th President in "our" lifetime. The price of everything has at the very least doubled. My very first "out of college" career paid me $14,562 annually (our current financial situation is much improved). We had daughters (1990, 1992, and 1996), a son (he came by way of our middle daughter, but he is OUR son) (2014), and now twin grandsons (2015). Oh yeah, my vinyl collection has exploded since its beginnings in high school.
31 years (and the rest of our lives for that matter) could not have happened without the examples that we have had. Family members who have been married 40, 50, and even 60 years have set a precedent to us of the importance of the "forever" portion of our vows. Our marriage has had "interesting" times, yet because of the examples of and love from our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, we have persevered regardless of trials.
While these family members have inspired us, we must acknowledge that God through Holy Spirit has been the sustaining force for us through times that where we had "conversations" about things and life became more "interesting".
Thank you to those who have and continue to invest in us. We hope to pay it forward to the next generation of young couples in which we are blessed to have influence.
Here's some advice we have gained from that "cloud of witnesses". Please consider this advice if you are planning a marriage to the love of your life:
1) Find a trusted Christian counselor to spend at least 6 weeks with you as a couple, mentoring you in your new life.
2) Understand that at the point of your wedding, you are no longer you in the individual sense, you are (in the southern vernacular)..."ya'll".
3) Read at least 1 premarital book together...simultaneously. That's right. You don't turn the page until your fiance is finished reading THAT page. Talk about what you read. Come to conclusions that you can agree on and some that may require compromise from the both of you.
4) Realize that at the point of your wedding, your relationship with your mother, father, siblings and other relatives is different. They are no longer the center of your universe. For your marriage to succeed...your relationship to your spouse must supercede ANY other relationship...past, present, or especially future. Does this mean you have to spend every waking minute together? No, I'm not even sure that is healthy. It does mean that you BOTH have to guard the heart that has been fused together at your wedding. My personal best advice with regards to family relations after marriage. Move as far away as you possibly can from ANYONE that you may know. This forces a reliance on each other for which living close to family and friends will never allow.
Much is being said about marriage today. If you have read Tuesday's Musical Notes for very long, you understand that we take a Biblical world view when it comes to marriage. The Bible defines marriage as between 1 man and 1 woman. It was created by God in the Garden of Eden, (Genesis 2 Christian Standard Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible/New King James Version of the Bible parallel), ordained by Jesus during His ministry (The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple Matthew: chapter 19 CSB/The Message/NKJV) and it is aided and sustained by Holy Spirit in this present life ("The Holy Spirit in Marriage" October 19, 2015 blogpost on loveyourspouse.org)
Marriage is an institution that was never intended to have separation. However, we realize that we live in a world where over 50% of marriages end in divorce. Unfortunately, as many "Christians" go through divorces as those who do not profess Jesus as Lord. This is a staggering statistic that we should work towards reversing. This trend can be turned around. Strong marriages can abound in a spirit of love.
Divorce is not the unforgivable sin either. Please understand this. God loves everyone. We are commanded to love God first and then love others as we do ourselves. For too many years, Christians have treated the victims of divorce with judgement and scorn, instead of the love that Jesus dictated we should have for ALL folks. Life is too short to ruin relationships over judgmental attitudes and harsh criticisms. We are to LOVE. The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple John: chapter 13 CSB/The Message/NKJV
For the past 31 years, I have been blessed beyond imagination by a love that is emblematic of that expressed in John 13. I don't always like her ideas and she doesn't always like mine. But WE love the fact that we wake up next to each other. She doesn't like the same songs that I do. But WE make beautiful music together. (Yup that noise you just heard was my youngest daughter going...STOP it dad!!!) 31 years ago today, we started out walkin' and learned to run...after 31 years of runnin', we're walking again and the only runnin' we do is after grandkids. We couldn't have made it to this point with out the love of others. Thanks again to those of you who love US. Most importantly, we couldn't have made it this far without Holy Spirit being a part of the "ya'll" that is us.
So that's it. A kiss for luck and we're on our way. And yes, we've just begun...
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
No comments:
Post a Comment