Marriage: A Reflection of God’s Glory 2
When Bill opened the door and Julie realized who it was, she jumped out of her chair, which she had just sat down on to take a short break, and ran to Bill with her arms open and a big smile on her face. She said, “You’re home! I love it when you come home! You’re my favorite person in the world!”
Simultaneously, when he came through the door, Bill anticipated the welcome and met Julie with a big hug and gave her a big smooch as she came to him. He said, “Here there, you sweet thing. I’ve been waiting all day to come home and spend some time with you. I love you so much.”
Just about then, he noticed that while she sounded chirpy, she looked exhausted. So, he said, “You look really tired, how can I help you? I know its late; how about if I play with the kids for a bit while you sit for a few minutes?”
She said, “No. You’ve had a really hard day, you must be exhausted. Why don’t you sit in your big chair and I’ll get dinner ready?”
To that, he responded, “Not yet, I need to visit with the kids while you take a break. I’m not as tired as you must be. You’re the greatest for thinking of me.”
Finally, she said, “Okay, how about if you spend some time with the kids and put them to bed. I’ve already told them stories, read Scripture to them, and prayed with them. You can do it all over again. While you’re doing that, I’ll get our dinner ready.”
Bill said, “Great ideas all. I’ll be right with you.” With that, he gave her another kiss, tweaked her tush, and trotted off making scary sounds for the kids.
I don’t have the time or the skill to relate what the dinner conversation was or the after-dinner conversation, but let me tell you that Bill and Julie had a really nice dinner and talk afterward. They talked about their days, they read Scripture together, they prayed together, and they talked about how they could make one another’s future days even better. They both acknowledged that to some extent what the experienced today was simply the life God has given them right now. New businesses are hard. Kids are kids. Traffic is traffic. And God is good. Further, they understood that they, being one (Gen 2:24) are in this together. When one has a hard day, they both have a hard day. In addition, they recommitted themselves to working hard to keep from adding to the trials they are both experiencing from other sources.
Later, they went to bed tired, but loving one another. They were too tired to make love, so they just snuggled until they fell asleep. Ready to do it again the next day. Did I mention that the goldfish got out of his bowl and flopped all over Suzy’s bedroom until they could catch him and put him back? There was lots of squealing and yelling. And a lot of fun. But boy, does that add to the exhaustion.