Every Christmas, I remember this card, remember how wonderful it felt and still feels to be pursued by this man. Oh dear, we were so immature, selfish, and crazy when we first were getting to know each other, knowing we wanted to get married, but wondering how and when we should do this when we were so...young, still in college, for heaven's sake! The verse "Flee the evil desires of your youth" applied quite strongly to us.
Dating Dustin was far from perfect...we were selfish, fickle, covetous, impatient. Honestly, not a whole lot of our two years of dating do I enjoy reminiscing about...Which is a tangible reminder that ALL of our marriage is a MERCY from God. What God has provided for us, and mostly, how he has changed our hearts over the past 10 years, has been orchestrated ultimately by the God of the universe.
Have I ever mentioned how I love my husband? One thing I love about him is his naturally strong personality, which he uses to call me out and reign me in. Dustin is my accountability partner: He teaches me about loving my neighbor. Seriously, left to myself, I am prone to be critical of everyone around me, in the privacy of my mind and heart. It usually boils down to my being envious of something a person has or a quality they possess, and I try to disguise this sinful attitude with another...comparing and criticizing others. None of this falls into the "encourage one another, and build each other up" or "Love always hopes" categories that are biblical principles Christians are to strive for as we walk the road of sanctification. Dustin typically recognizes when I'm going down these critical paths, and sets me straight. What a gift!
Okay, I have to jot down one more attribute of Dustin that I really really appreciate: he stewards his time well, according to his abilities. Before and after work, he is usually helping out at home, or studying, or playing with our kids, cooking, cleaning, communicating well. On days off, he goes to meetings, or studies more, or researches, typically before our family time (which I have struggled to get used to). We do like to take time to watch movies together usually at night on our laptop before bed, which, occasionally is a waste of time. We do take vacations within our budget, which are NOT a waste of time or money. And he is learning and teaching me how to Sabbath. Dustin is not idle, and he is not afraid to take on another task that needs to be done, and I appreciate that.
So that is my bi-annual blog entry as it seems lately, heh. With our fourth baby due in a few weeks, I don't imagine I will blog more frequently, but who knows? I just had to jot down my thoughts as this 10 year anniversary of "The Card" rolled around.
