Peculiar Updates
Twenty Six Amazing Years
And they said it wouldn't last...
God's grace flows to us in many ways. We see it in the dazzling colors of a sunset; the delightful sound of a babbling brook. We find it in the eyes of our children and the crayon "masterpiece" they offer up for the refrigerator door. We sense it under warm blankets on a cold winter's night. We find it suddenly and overwhelmingly when we are sitting at the table and we really notice the wonder of family. We seek it and find it when reading the Bible or going to church. And we sometimes see it and realize (with a bit of embarrassment) that His grace has been there every second but we were too busy to see it. Or maybe it is that we were too busy thinking about "ME" to notice.
Today Ruth & I celebrate our 26th Anniversary. And I realize now, more than ever, that God's grace flows to me through the person of Ruth. There is no one who knows what really transpires between a husband & wife... no one but the two of them. No one knows the frustration, anger, mistreatment, arguments, indifference and even rage. All the things that happen when two self-centered people try to make a go-of-it in this world. Many people lament that the divorce rate in America is over 50%. To be honest I am absolutely amazed that it is not 95%. Marriage is not easy. And marriage with Charlie Jones is not at all what you might expect. Let's just say that it is no picnic. Have I already mentioned "self-centered"?
I cannot begin to describe what it has been like living with Ruth. I think living with Ruth is experiencing Unconditional Love. We talk about such a love and we understand that God has such a love but Ruth is my flesh & bone, tangible expression of such an elusive concept. There is nothing I cannot tell her that would make her leave me. There has been nothing I have done which made her lose her love or respect of me. This kind of love is absolutely amazing. Few come near it while on this earth.
Living with Ruth has been a lesson in compassion but it has also been a fairly spellbinding, jaw-dropping encounter with a major talent. I stand in awe of her abilities and the free flow of creativity whenever we work on a play together. Browse through the gallery below and you will begin to see what it is like living with an elastic-faced, funny, witty and talented actress. What a ride it has been.
I have grown to love and depend on Ruth is such a way that it feels like she is part of my brain as well as my heart. We have experienced sad times, bad times, thin times, thick times, sickness, surgery, anger, quarrels and a thousand other events. Yet through it all I have come to depend upon her Goodness as a stable rock in the midst of a raging river. Needless to say... I am smitten. I love her much more today than I did twenty-six years ago. I love her much more because I explored deeper into this "universe" called Ruth. I am a happy man; a blessed man. Thank you, Ruth for living this very peculiar life with me.
